Elemental Aria
by Ephemeral Sanity
Summary: Music is magic. It can heal, protect, bless, curse, and destroy. Aisha is a songstress for the callous Eve and is blessed and cursed with a beautiful voice and incredible magic potential. But one day... The songbird will want to leave her gilded cage and sing freely in the sun. ElsAi! Chara! EleRen! Reven!
1. Prologue: The Royal Dance

**Ok, so Breathless here with a new story! I know I should be updating Yami No Tsurugi and Corruption Garden; however I had some random plot bunny attack and now this happened! So yeah… this is my second favorite ElsAi pairing and though I'm not the biggest fan of EM (Strongly prefers VP) I had to try and take a stab at a RS x EM FF. This will probably wind up being the worst RS x EM FF in existence; however… here goes nothing! **

**Credits: "Elemental Aria"**

**Inspiration Source: "Utau Hime" by I forgot the author's name 'because Japanese names are ridiculously complicated. **

**Rating: T due to violence, mild blood, harsh language, dark themes**

**Horrible Lyrics composed by yours truly**

**Story Begin!**

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**Elemental Aria**

**Prologue: The Royal Dance**

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The royal garden was a living rainbow of vibrant flowers. Luscious camellias of deep blood red, sunshine yellow and pristine mountain snow; hung salaciously from the branches of the trees. Roses, delicate and fragile, blossomed in full glory, filling the air with a sweet but delicate scent. Overhead the waxing moon of platinum shone, illuminating the garden in a surreal, otherworldly glow.

Surrounded by this fairytale garden, basking in its glory; was a castle, the polished white marble now shimmering silver in the moonlight. Airy spires strong as stainless steel but as light as buttercream rose up, reaching towards the heavens, giving the Alterian palace the appearance of a fairy queen's castle. Carriages, made out of the finest wood imported from Ruben and made from the young trees on the fringe of the Elven forest, rode up towards the sweeping grand staircase. Coming to a shuddering halt, nobles, clothed in the finest silks from Hamel sauntered out of the carriages; the smooth ruby cabochons and finely faceted diamonds encrusting various parts of their body, glittering as their bearers moved.

Tonight was a magical night for everyone attending. Eve, the young heiress to the throne of Altera, had just proclaimed news of the event three weeks ago and it took at least a week for the invitation to reach everybody. There had been much fussing and turmoil, after all, a royal dance was no small matter and the thought of having less than two weeks to prepare was absolutely scandalous to most. The young ladies of the royal courts had scrubbed their feet raw with phosphorous before treating them to a luxurious bath of lavender-scented cream, their hair was combed and washed and treated until the strands resembled the finest silken threads. There had been many tears shed as the noble ladies threw tantrums over what to wear and moaned on and on as to how hideous they looked in their sumptuous dresses, and they bawled ever so loudly and threatened their ladies-in-waiting when one of them had accidentally botched the eye liner.

Though the ladies were uncomfortable squeezed into their tight corsets and their feet wedged into tiny, spaghetti-heeled shoes; the men didn't have it much better. Much vulgarity abounded especially when it came to grooming their beards and facial hair, the men had plucked their beards with mind-numbing intensity, occasionally the monotony of the plucking process being broken when a poor soul got the jitters and accidentally stabbed the nobleman with the tweezers.

Nobody would have made such a fuss, except the ball was being held by Eve of Altera herself. Altera was one of the three great kingdoms and a mass exporter of Elrios's energy source- the El shards that were buried deep in the mines. Technologically advanced and prosperous, Altera was a kingdom that everyone wanted as an ally, but no one wanted as an enemy.

The ball room was vast and opulent. Crystal chandeliers threw gaily dancing shards of light, making everything in the room glitter and shine. On stage was a small orchestra, playing a snappy tune that had all the nobles light nodding their heads in time with the quick, carefree music. Gracefully they danced, the lady's skirts flaring out as they spun around gracefully, like the petals of a blossoming flower.

Leaning lazily on the banister, made of the finest Bethmian ivory was none other than Eve of Altera herself. Cold but elegant eyes of amber watched the nobles with disinterest, holding nothing but utter contempt for the nobles. Sighing, Eve held up her glass of champagne, idyllically swirling the gold-tinted liquid around before taking a sip; inhaling the sweet, fruity, but dry scent of the wine.

The soft wavering candlelight from the chandeliers gave the young heiress's assiduously braided coiffure a surreal glow, making it gleam like the moon outside. Her silken white dress accentuated with shocks of vivid fuchsia and adorned with adroitly welded flower ornaments of gold gently swayed each time Eve shifted her weight. As the silverette watched the grandeur from above with a detached expression, one thought raced through her brain at a maddening pace.

Why did she host this ball again?

These nobles did not have the intellect or insight to even connect with her on a basic level. They were superficial and shallow, perfectly happy with their own sheltered and posh world. Not even possessing any desire to reach out and discover something more than their so-called "happiness", which was frivolous and hollow in Eve's eyes. They wanted nothing, they strived for nothing, they knew nothing, and they needed nothing. They had no ambition beyond their own petty desires to have even more; however, they lacked even the intelligence to advance and gain more.

They were mindless children, perfectly content as long as their faces were treated with goat's milk and clad in profligate silks; they were happy. So easy to please and manipulate, that's how they were.

"Ah, watching from the sidelines again?" A rich baritone mused airily.

Well, most of them.

Startled, Eve's eyes snapped open wide from their half-lidded gaze. The heiress spun around and slowly, a wry smile drew itself upon her lips as she saw who her present company was.

A man with tanned skin and golden eyes, a thin scar marring the otherwise flawless skin, stood right behind her. His lips a thin line and his golden orbs carrying a light that was lacking in the other nobles. Unlike the other nobles whose eyes were placid and glassy, glazed over with greed and ignorance; his eyes were sharp and intense, giving him the appearance that he was staring straight into your soul.

Sure, he looked like all the other nobles with his carefully groomed appearance and rich clothing; however, he carried himself with a different air. Eve sensed a spark of ambition in him, a burning soul that would burn anybody who was foolish enough to draw his ire; until not even ashes remained. Here was one of the few rare exceptions.

Raven Nightray, crown prince of Velder. Known for his good looks, sharp wit, and incredible prowess in battle; all the ladies swooned over him and all the lords respected him. Though, he did not have any great magical potential in him, he still had a pleasant singing voice despite his claims that he couldn't hold a note to save his life.

Upon seeing Eve's contemplative and sly, almost conniving look; he chortled lowly and brushed a raven strand of hair behind his ear.

"Don't get any ideas Miss Iota; the others are going to be here soon." He replied dryly and narrowed his eyes. The silverette just smirked and laid her hand on the gleaming sapphire cabochon that adorned her chest.

"Ah, I'm flattered Mister Nightray, but you overestimate me. I'm not going to do anything… tonight." Eve replied in a shrewd manner. Making Raven grow even more wary of her; after all, Eve Iota of Altera wasn't known for being stupid. She was crafty and conspiratorial, using whatever tools she had at her disposal to get what she wanted. Though Ignotum might still be the king, and an intimidating figure; everyone with half a brain knew it was Eve who ran the real show.

Calculating and callous, she did not hesitate to destroy anybody who dared oppose her. She viewed people as treasures to be kept and collected; then placed on a pedestal and toyed with until she grew bored of them. Raven had lost count of all the times Eve had tried to trick him into giving up the providence of Bethma.

With a terse history between them, they were both very wary of each other. A deafening silence fell over the two royals, Drowning out even the insistent twittering of the nobles and the slow waltz that the orchestra was now playing. After a taut moment, Raven broke the silence.

"Will your songbird be singing tonight?"

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**Chapter end! Urk… I rewrote this THREE times and I'm still going "meh". This seriously like has to be the worst first chapter to a RS x EM FF ever! Q.Q But yeah… You'll soon discover how singing magic works… It's kind of like the characters sing short little song verses in order to activate their abilities and… urk… weabbo idea is weabbo and crappy chapter is crappy… Now to finish up on that one-shot for Snow-Sama. :3 Remember to R&R and give me constructive criticism so I don't feel like killing myself with each chapter! OAO**


	2. The Songbird's Flight

**Elemental Aria**

**The Songbird's Flight**

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Intelligent and vivacious violet eyes watched the nobles from a window as they mulled into the castle. The steady stream of richly clad people thinning as the last few straggled into the castle before all fell silent, save for the horses and the guards who were looking over everything.

Finally, it was time to leave. She couldn't stay here any longer, she had to escape this prison; she had to take flight while the opportunity was still ripe.

For as long as she could remember, Aisha Baskerville had lived here, locked away in this tower; overlooking the vibrant garden of the castle of Altera. Ever since she was a child and lost her memories in a calamity she had no recollection of; she had resided here as a songstress for Princess Eve of Altera.

Day after day, week after week; Aisha sung a melody whenever Eve asked her; in exchange she got everything she fancied.

Everything except her freedom that is.

Tonight, while Eve was occupied with entertaining her guests and her retainers, Oberon and Ophelia were preoccupied with their obligations- Oberon, serving as a bodyguard for Eve, and Ophelia, making sure the servants were performing their tasks with the highest degree of perfection viable.

Aisha herself was scheduled to sing for Eve and all her invitees in an hour; however, she couldn't do it. Last night, while the violet-eyed songstress was practicing her singing; her voice had snapped and she coughed up blood. She didn't dare tell Eve though, as she was certain the heiress would be totally apathetic to her dilemma; especially considering how callous Eve was to her own two closest confidants.

Aisha smiled humorlessly at the thought of telling Eve that she was in no shape to sing tonight. Like that would ever fly over with her well…. No… she was certain to get severely punished. Abruptly, her stomach growled as if remembering the time she had to go without dinner for attempting to sneak out and participate in the revelries of the Alterian Harmony Festival.

With an irritated snort, the songstress shoved the last thick, leather tome in her already overstuffed haversack before closing it with supreme effort. Heaving a noisy sigh, Aisha flopped down on the silken mauve sheets adorning her bed and stared pensively at the ceiling.

Tonight, she'll finally be leaving the life she's always known.

She was terrified but at the same time, oddly excited. Aisha smiled and opened the drawer of her highly varnished nightstand, made out of the finest rosewood. Gingerly, she pulled out a crumpled piece of yellowing paper and read the shambolic handwriting. It was a list she had made seven years ago, two years after she had been taken in by Eve and had finally realized by then, that she had no more freedom.

"You said Eve, that my sole duty was to stay here… that I had no need for this list… well… don't you feel stupid now?" Aisha murmured softly to no one in particular and pushed herself off the bed. Straightening out the skirt of her short, deep plum-colored dress; she took one last look in the mirror at herself.

Her lavender colored hair was secured back into a low hanging ponytail and her cheeks were perfectly rouged, giving her pale porcelain face a tint of color. The plum dress tightly hugged the top half of her body tightly, accentuating what little figure she had. All in all, she looked resplendent; her dress and makeup was perfect, it suited her perfectly, downplaying her own flaws while capitalizing on her good points.

Never again.

Never again would she be dressed up like a doll. She was leaving it all behind. Aisha's eyelids fluttered shut before fluttering open and slowly, her amethyst orbs took in the finery of her room. She wouldn't miss it. Her gaze then settled on the two towering bookshelves that were chock full of thick tomes covered in various materials.

Well… She would miss the books…

"Get over yourself Aisha… I'm sure you'll be able to read plenty of books once you leave…" She chided herself; slinging her sack over her left shoulder and made her way over to the window. Biting her bottom lip, she gripped the ebon window bar and attempted to open the window, to no avail. "Well… that was expected… Eve isn't stupid…" the purplenette mumbled under her breath. "Drat! Looks like I'll have to be doing some more singing than I wanted to do tonight…" She grumbled petulantly and shifted her weight around. "So much for giving my voice a break… well… here goes…"

Taking in a deep breath, Aisha closed her eyelids and softly sang a little spell; nothing to complicated, just a short little verse to get rid of the bothersome window.

"_What must go must go."_

"_I'm not sorry to see it leave though…" _

The window shimmered and the air around it distorted in response to the clear, light tune that Aisha was singing.

"_Never to be seen again…"_

"_Don't worry, this is not the end!"_

Several holes started to form as the window melted away; slowly they grew bigger until it was gone. The cool night air spilled into the small, circular room; causing the songstress to shiver as the heliotrope-colored curtains wafted with the wind. Taking in another deep breath, Aisha started to sing another tune; this one a little more jaunty and adventurous.

"_Lightly as a feather, I dance in the wind."_

"_Graceful and light, above the world, I cannot fall."_

Aisha took a deep breath, momentarily pausing in her singing and jumped out the window. Instead of rapidly plummeting towards her demise as most would be apt to do, the wind wrapped itself around her legs; letting her glide downwards gracefully.

"_A feather in the wind… A dandelion puff in the breeze… A branch in a summer storm…"_

"_I float around aimlessly, no purpose in sight…"_

Aisha continued to descend slowly towards the ground, the darkness and the guard's own ignorance her best friends in her escape.

"_Fly! Fly! Float and drift!"_

"_I continue to spin and glide until the ground reaches up and catches me!"_

"Che!" The songstress smirked as her ballet-toed slippers made contact with the ground. Now was the tricky part. Pursing her lips into a contemplative frown, she quickly scanned the area. She was positive that Eve had invited him to the ball, but where was his carriage? This was the most harrowing part of her escape, and one of the parts where several things could go wrong.

Well… the entire plan could go wrong. It was quite frankly, reckless and ill-thought out; the smallest thing could happen and everything could go to hell, really, only a desperate person would take such a huge risk.

Desperate was what Aisha was at this point.

The purplenette quickly scanned the area, making sure no one had spotted her before uttering a quick little verse to teleport behind a camellia tree.

"_Distance is nothing to a determined soul!"_

"Ngh!" Aisha grimaced as an intense pain, not unlike how a hunk of wood would feel when being sawed; stabbed her in her throat. "Please…no… Don't give up on me now! Just one more little song!" She pleaded in a hushed whisper and withdrew a medical lozenge from a small, white bag that was buried behind a thick book containing the arias to several elemental spells.

Aisha sighed and relaxed her stiff posture somewhat as the cool, sugary, cherry-flavored juices of the lozenge trickled down her throat; easing the pain somewhat. Sighing, Aisha took a deep breath in preparation for another spell. She couldn't afford to waste any more time. The songstress wanted to be well hidden when Eve found out or else…

She shivered at the thought.

"_You can't see me… you don't know me… I'm just a ghost to you…"_

"_You don't care, you don't hear, and my feelings apply to you!"_

"_I slip away unnoticed into the shadows of the night…"_

"_You don't even bat an eyelash… not much of a shining knight?" _

"_Let me disappear, I don't care… When I slip by, you can't even guess who!" _

"_I'm just an invisible shade to you!"_

The slow, haunting melody carried itself over the flower blossoms and wove around back to the purplenette; enwrapping her in the enchantment. The slender figure of Aisha shimmered and distorted, becoming more and more translucent until she was not visible. Smirking thinly, Aisha stepped out from behind the camellia tree and took a deep whiff of the delicate scent of roses.

Instantly, she heard absolute pandemonium break out from the castle. "Looks like Eve found out…" Aisha mumbled grimly and broke into a mad dash. "Shit… and here I was hoping to not rush!" She snorted cantankerously and ran towards the area were the noble carriages were kept.

She especially did not feel like running into Ferdinand, it would really suck to be electrocuted and brought back to a very, very, pissed Eve. "Ah! There!" She spotted the platinum-trimmed carriage of ebon just as Eve flung the enormous castle doors open in a frightening show of strength; an exceedingly incensed expression on her face. A whole crowd was behind her, confusedly whispering to each other with bewildered looks. Standing right next to Eve with a thoroughly entertained expression was Raven, a friend of Aisha's.

"Ah… I suppose you forgot there were other methods of escape besides teleportation?" Raven airily enquired to the irate heiress and nonchalantly swirled around the deep-red wine in his glass before sipping it. Eve hissed and narrowed her amber eyes before drawing her hand back.

"_Distance is nothing to a determined soul!"_

Aisha sang in a faint whisper and teleported inside the carriage, laying herself flat on the floor. A surprised yelp rang through the air followed by the barely audible shattering of glass. "Insolence!" Eve cried and whipped around, furiously scanning the area.

Raven sighed and rubbed his cheek, shooting a bemused glance at his metallic arm; casually flexing the steel claws back and forth. "Ah… nasty temper there… That's not going to help you find your little songbird." He sighed and looked down at his black-trimmed shirt of white, several blotchy red stains marching down the bodice. "That was my favorite dress shirt too…" He muttered bitterly and attempted to rub the stain out; however, he only succeeded in smearing it in more. Eve snorted and gave him the cold shoulder, taking in a deep breath in order to perform her song of summoning.

"_Duty call and chivalry stands, a moral code preserved throughout eons."_

"_Brave knight and loyal maid shall serve thy princess, leading thou to victory."_

"_Forgotten hero, heed my call! Faithful servant aid of thee!"_

"_Thy ballad is sung and thy duty calls!"_

"_A princess cries for thy aid of thee!"_

Two white-hot magic circles etched themselves on the ground, one on each side of the heiress. Raven hastily backed away just as a blinding pillar of light shot up from each circle. Several startled cries rang out through the crowd as they threw their jewel-encrusted arms out in front of their eyes in order to shield them. Eve narrowed her eyes, the pillars of light making her hair shine like the sun and casting deep shadows on her face, making her delicate, refined features appear almost demonic and cruel.

When the light faded two figures were flanking the silverette on both side; one a man wearing a smooth snow-white helmet with a depthless black visor; clad in an immaculate white uniform with shiny brass buttons and wielding a slender silver sword. The other was a female clad in a white dress with shocks of pearly black and dusty pink, her gleaming yellow eyes cold and emotionless. Eve took a deep breath and spun around, addressing the frazzled crowd of nobles.

"We are now on lockdown, no one is to leave until Oberon, Ophelia, and the guards have finished the search of the castle and its grounds. Thank you for your cooperation."

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**Woot! A longer chapter! Horrible song lyrics XD Eve is mad... *Runs for cover* Eh heh… Aisha's escape took a lot longer than I thought it would take =w=; everyone will be appearing by next chapter and things will start to get really crazy! We'll kind of be backtracking a bit though, mind you… so you won't see what happens after tonight's events until the fourth chapter! X3 But, I want to thank you guys for six reviews on the first chapter! I really appreciate that! This is my third story, so I'm grateful for the support! Here are the replies to my dear reviewers!**

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**TimeSplice- Yush you heard Chara! I know it's rare... sort of a shame... personally... I can see more in Chara than Cheve... *Shot* But I think Chara is a super duper cute pairing :3 I'm glad you think my weabbo first chapter was good :D**

**Vahlite- Yeah, I love cliffhangers XD Troll the readers and see their reaction XD *Shot* Oh my El I feel derp... I tend to be a bit semicolon happy... probably due to my early days where I would have long, run-on sentences :/ It was ridiculous :L Glad you found the story good though :3**

**CherryBlossomHimeSakura- You'll be able to figure out... I mean, what Eve class has braids and wears a pink and white dress? What Raven is calm and composed and suited for nobility? Aren's going to be in whatever class that Ara isn't and when the other characters get introduced and there's still confusion... I'll tell you :3**

**HanaEve- I see AishaEM has told you O_O Don't worry! Things will get better for EM! X3 Hope's not lost yet! I'm not cruel in my stories if using EM! OwOb**

**Tsunderee- Eh... It's not exactly Eve x Raven =w=; however, due to their positions in the story, there'll be some conflictions and moments between them XD Yeah... Raven x Aisha moment is going to be coming up soon in the story :3 I do my justice in describing the hawt guys of the el gang X3 Don't worry 'bout me updating! Here is one! :D**

**Tsurara-Oikawa chan- Thanks for the support! :3 You're so sweet! I'm sure it'll get better, but as of now... I kind of feel shaky X3 I'm glad you thought it was good! Your one-shot was brilliant! So sweet and poignant! :,D**


	3. Meanwhile

**Elemental Aria**

**Meanwhile**

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The only response Raven received from his enquiry to the silver-haired heiress was a brusque nod.

"What do you think?" Eve rhetorically enquired with a wry smile and gently fingered the lock of varnished platinum that dangled from her coiffure. Raven sighed and adjusted the silken black collar of his shirt before heaving a small sigh and tousling his stygian black hair. "Of course she's going to be singing."

A cold smile of approval crossed the silverette's sugary pink lips before she bowed her head into a brisk nod. "Ah, good, so you aren't brain damaged." She retorted sardonically and took a long sip of champagne. All Raven could do was snort and fold his arms in a tetchy gesture. "Of course I'm not." He replied, sounding a bit miffed. The two royals stood with a taciturn silence between them.

Raven, eyeing the sparkling crystal goblet of champagne; shifted his weight around and asked the heiress a question. "Do you happen to know where I can get some wine to hold myself over until the others get here?" He enquired in a dry tone and crossed his arms. The silver-haired heiress let out a small gasp and held her hand to her chest in a gesture of mock hurt. "Why is my presence really that stultifying to you? She enquired, feigning indignation, carefully gouging the ebon-haired prince's reaction. Raven, seeing through her ruse, just flexed his shoulders lazily and nodded. "You're catching on." He smirked thinly.

Eve sighed and waved her hands at the colorful crowd that was gathered in the ball room, merrily cavorting with each other. "Down there, just ask one of the servers. There is a wide variety to choose from; ranging from Merlot to Sauvignon Blanc." She said in a tone of exasperation and stalked away from the ebon-haired prince, the skirt of her dress flaring out behind her as she did so. Raven groaned softly to himself and rubbed his forehead which was starting to throb profusely with a sharp pain, not un-similar to how one would feel if they were hit repeatedly in the head by a jackhammer.

This was going to be a very long night for him unless the others showed up. Last night he had received confirmation from the Avarons, Haans, and Seikers that they were going to be appearing tonight. If it weren't for that, Raven would've never even deigned it worth his precious time to come over here and spend time with his nemesis-Eve. Formal protocol and regulations be damned; he'd rather offend a royal by not showing up, then by lashing out simply because he has an excruciating headache.

Descending the marble steps, he was treated to a pleasant surprise in the form of a busty elf with fair hair the color of sun-ripened wheat, and verdant eyes of rich emerald. "Thank El both dark and holy! You're finally here… Rena Avaron." He exclaimed and allowed a relieved smile to cross his lips. Rena, looking superlative in a sleeveless sea foam green dress bedecked with fluffy white feathers that accentuated her large bust, and a golden charm studded with a merrily twinkling peridot; smiled and batted her thick eyelashes coquettishly.

"Was it that terrible now?" She said, her voice rich and musical, causing the ebon-haired prince to inadvertently reminisce about cool spring breezes and the subtle scent of lilies-of-the-valleys. Raven made a big show of sighing loudly and pretending to nearly collapse to the ground. "You have no idea… Eve always sets me on edge… I can never relax around her!" He said zealously and fiddled with the obsidian-set brooch of platinum, from which a ruffled piece of jet black cloth hung.

Rena sighed, her slender, pointed ears twitching as she did so, and she shook her head slowly. "Well, you have some company in your misery now. I found the others; they're all waiting for you." She soothed and gripped Raven's arm with a surprising strength that belied her waifish figure. Raven's mood suddenly couldn't help but be lightened at the prospect of hanging out with his friends; finally, this ball had some worth to him.

"Oh good! You're here Raven-san! I was worried that you decided to bail or something 'cause you don't like Eve-san!" A young woman with dulcet golden eyes and luxurious locks of ebon, adorned with various ornaments; most notably a golden hairpin whose end was welded similarly to a fox's tail, exclaimed in a breathy, somewhat rushed tone; absolutely void of the polite formality that most nobles and royals addressed each other with. Her creamy white kimono was embroidered with orange threads that subtly shifted between glittering gold and sunset orange. Standing next to her, looking torn as to if he should reprimand her or be amused by her lackadaisical banter, was a raven-haired male with golden eyes much like his younger sister. He was clad in a night-black yukata embellished with orange thread, and his long hair was secured into a low-hanging ponytail by a glinting golden hairclip in the shape of a half butterfly.

"Ara…" The ebon-haired male trailed softly, gently reminding his younger sister to behave more prudently than how she was conducting herself at the moment. Raven raised a dubious eyebrow as he noted the crumbs that were littering the bodice of her silken kimono and snorted. "I think you're a little too late Aren." He stated in a dry tone and waved down a tuxedo-clad waiter, before hastily placing an order for a glass of Merlot. The raven-haired Aren sighed and opened his mouth to reply to Raven's remark, but was interrupted by his younger sister before he got a chance to do so.

"I had to eat and the food was messy! What was I supposed to do? Not eat?" She huffed indignantly and crossed her arms, her bottom lip jutting out and forming a pout. Raven snorted and rolled his eyes in a dismissive gesture, earning a somewhat reproachful look from Rena. Raven ignored Rena's look and opened his mouth to make a witty reply; however, he was interrupted by the arrival of two other royals.

"My, my! It's so good to see you Mister Raven! I was worried that you weren't coming tonight!" A young male with spiky blonde hair and wide, guileless cerulean eyes in which a soft paw-print pattern, a smidge darker was visible in them; approached them; two tufts of the blonde were russet-tipped and stood straight up, giving them the appearance of cat's ears. He was donning a formal white outfit with shocks of various shades of blue highlighting the edges. Right behind him was an older man-presumably the boy's father, with similar cerulean eyes and blonde hair; however his blonde hair was much more subdued, all of it slicked back by various oils into a thin, low-hanging ponytail, and his formal suit had red, not blue streaks around the edges.

"Chung and Helputt Seiker, what a pleasure to make your acquaintance again." Raven said in a polite voice and briefly dipped into a deferential bow. The older man just laughed heartily and grabbed his son's shoulders with his meaty hand. "Don't be so formal, we're all friends here!" His deep voice boomed and his left eyelid slid shut in a cordial wink. Ara vigorously nodded her absolute approval at those words and started to bounce around in place like she was on a sugar-hype; occasionally shooting an anxious glance at the younger blonde, as if she wanted something.

Whatever thoughts were crossing her mind were broken as the violinist played a light, snappy ritornello that practically begged for all the nobles to dance along with the catchy tune. Lightly nodding his head up and down in time with the music, Raven turned to Rena and held his hand out; giving the blonde his most seductive smile.

"Do you care to dance?" He asked his voice all silk and smoothness now. Ara squealed but was silenced by a scathing glare from her older brother, prompting her to shut up. Rena's emerald eyes widened before she smiled coyly and gave the ebon-haired prince an abashed smile that drove him crazier than any seductive grin would. "I would like that very much." She said in her lyrical voice and held her hand out for Raven to take.

"WHAAAAAT DOOOO YOOOUUU MEEAAAAN SHEEEE'S GOOOONE?!" An all-too familiar voice to Raven's ears screeched. The orchestra's music faded into silence as confused murmurings erupted from the crowd like wildfire. A black and white figure, who was most fortunately donning a shiny white helmet tumbled down the stairs, yelping each time his head banged against the stairs or the banister.

On top of the stairs, looking infuriated, her once calm and delicate facial features dripping with unbridled venom was Eve. Her amber eyes narrowed into little slits as she glowered derisively at the schmuck who had taken a tumble after nearly having his head slapped off his shoulders. Standing next to Eve was her servant Ophelia, looking as calm and emotionless as ever.

"Oh dear…" Rena murmured worriedly and delicately traced the glittering emerald that rested on her collarbone. Ara gulped and bit her bottom lip.

"Oh dear is right…" Raven exclaimed bitterly and took a big quaff of his wine for good measure.

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**I'm sorry! This was a short chapter! Q.Q And probably boring! *Slaps self* No singing or much of anything! If the chapter title didn't give it away, these events take place during Aisha's escape. Next chapter is where stuff starts to get really interesting I promise you! So here are the replies to my lovely and generous reviewers who took their valuable time to read and review my short little weabbo story QwQ I love chu guys :,3 *Touched***

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**Spirify – Really? OAO I'm so flattered! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Here's a short update! :3**

**Alyssu-chan- Poor Aisha is no longer locked up! She'll be free! But Eve is really, really mad now X3 stuff is going to happen! Aisha x Raven in this story is more of a big brother/ little sister relationship, nothing to serious to compete with the ElsAi… 'cause no one has time for that XD**

**Tsurara Oikawa-chan- Les Miserables… brings me back to the skill revamp were people were posting links to the song 'Let Freedom Ring' XD Communist patch XDDD Aww… you're too sweet, I'm glad I come off as nice :3 Yay! Sequel is coming soon! I know how awful school can be :/**

**TimeSplice- What else can I say except thank you very much? :3**

**sOdAPopgrl133- OMG! Thank you so much! You don't know how much such a rave review means to me! I think Chara works thanks to the whole Ran was the one who invaded Hamel and corrupted Chung's dad and somehow, they conflict in a nice way because of that :3 I like detail… detail is good as long as you're not too crazy with it :3 Yeah, I wrote the corny lyrics myself X3**

**HanaEve- Are you two friends in real life? OwO But thanks! Here's your update!**

**Reito Sora- Minor Raven x Aisha… I updated, but the chapter is kind of short XP But I hope you enjoyed it all the same!**

**Rosamanelle- *Drops dead of happiness* It's ok! I'm happy that you just reviewed! OAO No need to rage! Everything is fine and dandy… for now… *Shot***


	4. Shadows Gathering

**Elemental Aria**

**Shadows Gathering**

* * *

Velder's plaza was absolutely silent as night fell and the silver moon shone overhead; being reflected and distorted in the granite fountain's surface. A crisp night breeze danced through the air, wafting the subtle delicate scent of roses and hydrangeas, and the more overpowering aroma of pine with just a hint of heliotrope. Several stone buildings neatly surrounded the plaza, their solemn presence reassuring and silent.

It was a peaceful, sleepy little section of town. The place where mothers would take their children out to frolic out in the fresh air and chat avidly to their support group. A charming little place were wealthy families would gather out on warm summer days, and picnic under the shade of the great oaks, daintily nibbling on their crust-free tea sandwiches.

Yes, it was a quaint little plaza, cheerful and serene; however… However… Over the last month, there have been increasingly disturbing reports of brutal murders and demon sightings, a most alarming series of events indeed to the placid residents of inner Velder. That was why the crown prince had ordered for a small band of knights to keep a vigilant watch over the plaza tonight, seeing if they could help manage the problem while he went and attended the Alterian ball.

"Are you ready Elsword?" A young woman with sharp crimson eyes and sinuous scarlet hair subdued by a tiny cerise bow into a thick ponytail, enquired tetchily to a young crimson-haired male with scarlet eyes like her own. Elsword nodded and tugged indolently on one of the thin side tails that adorned each side of his head. "I'm all cool Elesis. It's just the usual… right?" He added the last word as an afterthought, sounding almost apprehensive despite his confident words. His nattily spiked hair rustled back and forth as the wind played with it, making the two thin side tails and the slender, low-hanging ponytail in the back, dance.

Elesis grimaced and curtly nodded; resting a hand on her maroon claymore whose surface shifted and shimmered like dancing flames, for self-assurance. "That we know of…" She said somberly and turned around to address the rest of the silver-clad knights.

"Ok! So listen up!" She exclaimed imperiously and stuck her chin high up in the air. Instantly, the knights straightened their posture, letting the crimsonette know they were listening intently to her.

"We're following standard protocol as are intelligence is still vague and we're running on the assumption that the demons are just normal Glitters. However! You must be on the top of your game nonetheless! Failure to comply will result in death and all of you having to buy me lunch for a year!" She reminded in her commanding voice and did a brief salute to the knights. The small squad nodded once and mimicked her salute, "Yes ma'am!" The said in unison and hefted their weapons into a battle stance, the cold metal gleaming in the moonlight as they did so.

Elesis drew her lips into a thin line of approval and turned back around to the front, her posture tense and her back slightly arched out, like a tomcat ready to strike. A breeze, this one different from the others and carrying the noxious scent of brimstone flew past the squad, causing them to reel from the repugnant odour. "Oh my El…" Elsword muttered and covered his mouth and nose with a black-clad hand.

Elesis crinkled her nose as her lips curled down in a frown. "You do think the demons could've chosen a better signature scent than sulfur." She agreed and wiped away a tear that was welling up in the corner of her left eye.

"Yeah… say… where are they?" Elsword enquired apprehensively and shifted his weight around restlessly. The crimsonette pursed her lips into a pensive frown and gently bit her tongue. "I don't know… they should be here." She trailed worriedly and held a gloved hand up; the maroon hued rune that was embroidered on the stygian-black fabric flickered frenetically, like the sputtering of a dying candle flame.

A shrill piercing scream broke the taut silence; a raucous chorus of alarmed shouts erupted from the squad causing the two redheads to jump and whip around with distressed expressions. Where one knight had been standing was nothing more than a trail of smeared blood.

"W-WHAT HAPPENED?!" Elesis yelped and ripped the claymore out of the leather straps that secured the sword to her back. "I-it… ju-just… came… out of the… shad-shadows…" One knight trailed feebly before collapsing to the ground. "Sis! I don't think those are Glitters!" Elsword exclaimed worriedly and held up his own silver sword, this one with a serrated blade with a flat end and several ruby-red belts adorning the hilt.

The crimsonette bared her teeth into a fierce scowl and gripped the hilt of her claymore with both hands, holding it out in front of her in a combative stance. "No… those aren't… They're shadows…" She informed and shot several rapid-fire glances around her. The small squad of knights was starting to panic; they were whispering uneasily to each other and cowering, their weapons trembling as they were held out with shaky hands.

"Stay strong guys!" Elesis barked and narrowed her eyes. "There!" Several startled cries rang out from the knights as an abyssal black hole erupted from a rugged stone wall. The crimsonette wasted no time in entering the battle.

"_Infernal dance! Spirits of the vengeful dead cry out for vengeance!" _Elesis cried as she charged towards the demon that was emerging from the portal. Her claymore busted into flames, a brilliant haze of smoldering embers trailing out as she swung her blade. The shadow teleported just as the crimsonette was about to slice it into two, causing the blazing blade to whiff completely. Screeching loudly, the shadow demon jerked his tail forward, shooting a night black stinger at Elesis. Smirking, Elesis shot up into the air, her sword burning ardently like the sun.

"_Brilliant fire! Ash renewal! Karma's red-hot judgment!" _She sang and swung her blade around in mid-air; several crescent-shaped shockwaves of fiery energy bursted out from the blade and the ground was set ablaze, making the shadows on the ground dance gleefully; the acrid smell of burnt stone mingling with the pungent odour of a pine-scented candle. The shadow demon scuttled forward and melded into the shadows, shielding itself from the attack. "Tough little bastard aren't you?" The crimsonette smiled humorlessly and charged at the shadow just as it emerged from the shadows.

"_Fiery spirit delivers unwavering punishment!" _Elesis chanted and with one fluid movement, threw her claymore to the ground where it clattered against the cobbled stones. Her gloved hand erupted into brilliant flames that made the air around it shimmer and dance. With one swift movement, the crimsonette threw her blazing fist forward and slammed it into the demon's skull, causing it to shriek in pain as it was consumed by the blazing fire.

"Nice job sis!" Elsword called out and gave his sister a brief thumb's up. Elesis smirked cockily and sauntered over to where her claymore was lying and picked it up off the ground; hefting the massive blade over her shoulder with relative ease. Instantly, she froze and her eyes grew wide. "S…is?" Elsword trailed worriedly and took a tentative step forward.

"DUCK!" Elesis screamed and hurtled herself forward. Startled, Elsword obeyed and threw himself to the ground just as two beams of sulfuric yellow sailed over him. With a wild cry, Elesis shot into the air and held her gloved hand out; the rune flared brightly in response and her hand spewed out a shapeless blob of fire. A strident screeching shattered everyone's eardrums as a brilliant pillar of fire rose up from the ground, moving from side to side in convoluted jerking motions.

"Dammit… those jerks don't play fair…" Elsword grumbled and staggered to his feet, dusting the dirt off his black midriff. "Look out!" Elesis warned as she rammed her fist into another shadow demon, causing it to explode in a searing wave of heat. Quickly, Elsword leapt to the side in order to avoid a volley of laser beams and randomly shot forward several golden glowing runes in retaliation; a harsh noise like metal grinding on metal told the redhead that at least one of the runes had made contact.

Gripping his sword in one hand, Elsword charged forward to join his sister who was taking on several shadows at once; brilliant plumes of fire fading into the nether as quickly as they had erupted as the foray grew more heated, literally. _"Divine blades rise and all falls silent!" _Elsword cried and raised his hand into the air. Eight golden magic circles flared into existence, spewing out a shimmering blade that glowed white. Several shadows erupted in a cloud of dark essence as the blades found their mark.

"_The power of words calls forth realities!" _Elsword chanted and held his hand out, conjuring a large golden rune that spun around wildly in place, before he struck it with his sword, making the spell explode in a flash of searing light. A shower of shadow stings rained down from the sky in a form of brutal retribution. One stinger met Elsword's shoulder, eliciting a startled yelp from the redhead as he dropped his sword, desperately clutching at the wound as blood flowed from it.

"Elsword!" Elesis cried and streaked forward; cutting down a shadow demon that was gathering energy in preparation to launch another laser. Wildly, the crimsonette spun around and swung her claymore out around her, deflecting a volley of shadow stingers, the abyssal stingers dug themselves into the stone as they slammed into the buildings and quivered softly before disintegrating. "…" Elsword mumbled an incomprehensible phrase and staggered to his feet, grinning weakly at his sister as he did so.

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about…" He said assuredly and held his hand up, a golden rune flickering into existence as he did so. The crimsonette nodded, but she noted with immense concern that the blood was still flowing out with alarming speed and that he looked considerably paler.

* * *

Watching the mayhem in the plaza unfolding from on top of the clock tower was a figure shrouded in a cloak of shadows. Hovering next to the figure; frenetically flapping its violet-shaded wings was a small bat with gleaming golden eyes and a rotund frame. "Why are you taking such an interest in Mu? It is Beta we are looking for." The bat enquired his voice surprisingly sonorous; belying his endearing and loveable appearance.

The cloaked figure chortled darkly and turned to the bat. "Ah, I know who we're looking for; however messing with Mu would be a fun way to kill some time… Angkor." The figure retorted in an indolent drawl. Angkor snorted and flapped his infinitesimal little wings harder, causing him to gain an inch so he was staring the cloaked figure straight in the eye.

"We don't have any spare time to kill… Every day we waste, Ignotum gets closer to discovering us and then the whole plan goes to waste." Angkor said solemnly and started to flutter around in nervous circles. The cloaked figure sighed exasperatedly and lightly slapped Angkor on the head, earning a demonic glare from the bat.

"I know that…" a pensive grumble escaped the figure's lips.

* * *

"Haah… Elsword… are you –huff- okay?" Elesis enquired and bit her bottom lip as another wave of shadow demons scuttled into the plaza. "-huff- Yeah…" Elsword trailed weakly. He was doubled over in pain, sweat mingled with blood trickled down his arm and his hair was a shriveled mess and plastering itself to his face.

Elesis grimaced and shot a worried glance down at her legs, which were scuffed and scratched raw, the crimson tights ragged and revealing several shallow cuts. The knights were barely faring any better than the crimson-headed siblings. The gleaming silver armor was banged up, broken, and dented; several were critically injured and laying on the sidelines, too weak to move. Three of the fifteen were dead.

The plaza was an absolute disaster. Tongues of flame licked the stone buildings, and avariciously consumed the trees; filling the air with a potent miasma of burned wood and pine. Broken glass shards glittered malevolently as the voracious flames played on their smooth surface. The corpses of the dead were sprawled out in the street, their limbs twisted at anomalous angles. The stone fountain was busted and spilling icy water all over the place, drenching the feet of the maltreated fighters, chilling them to the bone.

Despite all the carnage, the shadow demons continued spilling into the plaza, looking for fresh blood.

Elsword gasped as another hot wave of pain shot through his side, sending him reeling. "Tsk… Sis… You better take cover." He mumbled with a humorless and dark expression on his face, his deep crimson eyes narrowed. Elesis, instantly implying what he was saying, gasped, and furiously shook her head in firm disagreement.

"No Elsword. You're too weak."

Elsword deadpanned and furiously jabbed his finger at the converging crowd of demons.

"We've been fighting for forever practically and they keep coming! I need to do this or else we'll be overwhelmed!" He hissed vehemently in between clenched teeth. Elesis, flinched at her brother's scalding expression; however, she regained her composure and feverishly shook her head again in protest.

"No." She asserted flatly and grinded her teeth together.

Elsword shrugged and held his blade up towards the lustrous heavens. "Too bad… I'm doing it." He averred unpretentiously and took in a deep breath.

"ELSWORD!" Elesis screamed.

Ignoring her, Elsword closed his eyes and muttered a lengthy incantation.

"_Shining blade meets burning rune."_

"_Caelum and Inferna clash and erupt."_

"_Heaven and Hell cease to exist."_

"_Beginning of the end and end of the beginning."_

"_Shining blade shatters the burning rune!"_

A black hole materialized out of thin air, sucking in the demons who screeched loudly and flailed around as they attempted to escape to no avail. Elsword, continuing the incantation swung his blade around in a circle once, materializing six shimmering claret rune blades before he sliced his blade downwards.

The rune blades hurtled forward piercing the black hole, with an emotionless expression; Elsword held his hand up and invoked a large rune which throbbed with an incandescent light.

"_And all turns to dust…"_

With a deafening bang, the rune exploded; burning away the night and forcing the knights and Elesis to duck and shield their eyes. "You moron…" Elesis whispered and rushed over to catch her brother just as he fainted. "Elsword?" Elesis whispered worriedly as she shook Elsword's limp frame. "Elsword?!" Elesis probed, slightly louder this time as she got no response from her younger brother. "ELSWORD!" The crimsonette screeched as she shook him frantically, desperately trying to get a response.

"Nnn…" Elsword mumbled weakly as his eyelids fluttered open revealing dull crimson disks before they fluttered shut again. Elesis gulped, her mouth felt as dry as cotton and it felt like a bees nest was lodged in her throat, but she was relieved. Relieved that her younger brother was still alive after performing such a precarious and reckless act.

"You are so grounded…" She murmured and slung her brother over her shoulder, handing her claymore to a battered knight that was standing right next to her.

"Let's go… When we get back; I'll be taking Elsword to the infirmary, you report to Vanessa and tell her what occurred here. This is serious news; shadow demons are not native here." She ordered and furrowed her brow into a pensive and agitated expression.

_The last time something like this occurred, Elrios was nearly subjugated by the demons!_

* * *

**Woot! 2.6k words not including AN's! :3 Hmm… My self-reflection for this chapter… I think I did fairly well; however those action scenes… Q.Q Let's just say I still have a ways to go before I create the surreal dancing effect I was aiming for QwQ Ah, speaking of which you might've noticed a large gap between Elesis's and Elsword's spell-casting in comparison to Aisha's. There's a reason for that… Several things are starting to happen now… A new mystery person X3 Ignotum is revealed to not be a side-stand character ;3 But enough rambling… here are my replies to my lovely, generous reviewers who took the time to R&R! :DDD**

**AishaElementalMaster- O_O As for the songs... they have a wide variety of uses, you'll see some of them as the story advances**

**Rosamanelle- Don't worry... I have infinite rez stones X3 Eh... Eve can always fix Oberon up and well... Eve doesn't care much about pairings... she's a little -cough- bitchy -cough- in this FF... But she's pretty amusing to X3 Helputt isn't evil.. he probably won't be... unless other figures -cough- interfere -cough- Chara is an adowable pairing ^w^ **

**Tsurara Oikawa-chan- Yeah... it was everywhere on the Elsword forums on the official sight. It was a riot... so much hate and hilarity X3 It did refer to us... suddenly, we don't have the freedom to have both Queen's Throne and Junk Break O_O Helputt is such a weird name... it's so weird... It's like... does he putt golf balls from Hell? *Shot* Homework... NUUUUU! *Crawls into emo corner***

**Desuchi- O.M.G. OAO *Dies from hapiness, rezzes, dies again, rezzes repeat x10* the DESUCHI?! OAO 16/10? OAO THANK YOU SOOO MUCH :,DDDDD You made my day :3**


	5. Onward to a New Fate

**Elemental Aria**

**Onward to a New Fate**

* * *

Eve sighed petulantly with an incensed expression on her face as she watched the tittering crowd of nobles leave the Alterian castle. They we're no doubt talking about the pandemonium that had just transpired tonight.

Of all the things that could've happened this evening, it had to be this. The young heiress's cheeks flamed as she recalled Raven's snide remark from earlier. The humiliation of that moment was something that she had never experienced prior to tonight; however, she vowed to never let it happen again.

She would make an example of that brat, next time she saw her; Eve would clip her wings off for good and parade her to the rest of the world in exchange for the mortification she underwent tonight. How could that brat run away?

And after everything she had done for her too!

She fed her! She put the very clothes on that ungrateful wench's back! She provided the whelp with a myriad assortment of books to keep her entertained! All the heiress had ever asked for was a song when required, but still…

That egocentric cow still had the audacity to run away, and on the night of the ball, of all times to!

The silverette let out an acerbic snort and looked up at the crystal chandelier; the flames on the wax candles flickering softly and making the light shards dance, as if the orchestra was still playing, and they were hypnotized by it.

"_A royal princess calls for thee!" _Eve sang, her normally delicate and light voice; harsh and angry. With a flash of brilliant white light, her bodyguard- Oberon appeared right next to her.

"Y-yes… mi-milady?" Oberon stuttered nervously, his entire lean frame trembling violently like a leaf caught up in a summer's storm. Seeing Oberon's fear, Eve scowled fiercely and raised her hand back before bringing it down with a good deal of force. A resonating smack followed as Eve's palm slapped the snow-white helmet on Oberon's head.

"Oh grow a pair!" Eve snapped vehemently and crossed her arms cantankerously. "I did not have you built so you could be a chicken!" She practically spat and tapped her white-booted toes against the polished marble. Oberon cowered briefly, but instantly regained his composure upon seeing the scalding glare on his mistress's face.

"I apologize milady." Oberon tried again, this time more calm and poised than before. "What is it that you need?" Eve glowered at her bodyguard, her pugnacious expression reflected faintly in the black of Oberon's visor.

"Get me some tea, preferably chamomile or chai." She barked and stuck her chin up.

Oberon gawked at her before replying, "I apologize milady, but… isn't that Ophelia's job?" He asked tentatively and stiffened up somewhat. The incensed expression that appeared on the silverette's face was all that he needed to know that he had made the wrong move. With one swift movement, the young heiress brought her hand back in preparation to smack Oberon again.

"I APOLOGIZE MIIIIILAAAAAAADYYYYYYY!" Oberon howled and streaked away from Eve, frenetically waving his arms as he did so; the chain that was attached to his arms clanking as he did so. "PLEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE FOOOORGIIIVE MEEEEEEE!" Oberon continued to wail and started to dash around Eve in circles (At a very safe distance) his raw speed leaving faint afterimages as he did so; making the silverette quite nauseous.

"JUST GIVE ME SOME DAMN TEA!" heiress had finally reached her breaking point. Lividly, she held her hand out and chanted a battle incantation.

"_Royal blood, a ruler chosen by the heavens."_

"_With noble blood and divine power, call upon heaven's wrath."_

"_Judgment comes, a continuous cycle of vicious karma."_

"_Spare no one, obliterate all the ignorant."_

"_My final dying decree!"_

A golden pinpoint of light appeared in the sky and started to streak around in rapid jerking movements; etching an incandescent magic circle. From the circle erupted a colossal hand of deep, earthy brown that rammed itself down into the ground; cracking the marble floor and emitting a shockwave that blew the adroitly welded tiara of platinum off of Eve's head, and made the crystal chandelier sway dangerously.

It was Oberon's raw speed that saved him from being turned into a pancake as he was able to throw himself out of the way, just in the nick of time. Unfortunately for the servant, he wasn't able to recover himself in time to avoid the finishing blow. Abruptly, the colossal hand Eve had conjured opened up and flew towards Oberon, smacking him straight into the wooden stage and breaking it apart.

"Uwaaah…" Oberon mumbled dazedly and collapsed to the ground unconscious, occasionally twitching in spastic, convoluted movements reminiscent of a spider.

Eve grimaced as she surveyed the ballroom, which now looked like a war zone; not a place where airheaded nobles such as the guests she invited tonight, would dance.

"Oh my… What happened here?" A deep male's voice, that was all-too familiar to the irate heiress enquired. Eve cringed as she heard the voice; it was detached and derisive, sounding as if the owner didn't give a damn that he had walked straight into a razed part of his castle… yes… _his _castle.

"Oh, welcome back… Ignotum…" Eve said coolly and turned around, brusquely bending her knees down to do a curt curtsy. Ignotum, the current king of Altera just sighed and rolled his sulfuric yellow orbs; his silvery-white strands neatly slicked back so they wouldn't drift into his eyes and obscure his vision.

"You're too unaffectionate Eve, how many times have I asked you to call me 'Dad'?" He mused airily as if he didn't care either way. Eve smiled humorlessly and placed a delicate hand over one immaculately plaited bun.

"Perhaps if you actually spent time with your own daughter in the castle; I would develop some affection towards you." The young heiress replied snippily and stuck her nose up into the air with one contemptuous gesture. The king just flexed his shoulders, unperturbed and adjusted the collar of his silky-grey dress shirt.

"Well excuse me my _dear daughter_, as a king I have many important duties to tend to." He retorted frostily and narrowed his eyes.

Eve huffed indignantly and stomped her foot on the ground, like she was having a paroxysm; her teeth bared into a menacing scowl. "_What_?" She hissed malevolently. Ignotum snorted and narrowed his eyes, glowering contemptuously at his own daughter.

"Excuse me?" He snipped curtly.

Eve let out a shrill scream and threw her arms into the air, sixteen years of suppressed fury being released all in one night.

"WHAT COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING HOME TO ACTUALLY RUN YOUR KINGDOM?!" She screeched and balled her hands up into tight fists, the nails digging into her porcelain pale flesh and forming then crescents of blood.

The Alterian king just stared frostily at his own daughter before replying in a detached, emotionless voice.

"I am working to make this kingdom great." With those words he stalked out of the ruined ballroom with an air of hostile dignity. On the top of the marble stairs, the king paused and slowly turned around; his cold, calculating eyes surveying the wreckage of the ballroom, his eyes lingering on the limp form of Oberon.

"Ah… you should really take better care of your toys… they just might break or… disappear."

* * *

Raven sighed as the crisp night air played with his ebon locks, lightly ruffling them and tousling the fine strands, giving his hair a mussed up appearance. The cold moon shone overhead, surreal and stern; giving his robotic arm a ghastly glint.

The prince heaved a deep breath, taking in the crisp scent of the air outdoors, free from the nauseating odour of strong, flowery perfume and the sickly sweet smell of champagne.

This night had not gone at all how he planned it to go.

He grimaced as he recalled his earlier fantasies of how the ball was going to go. Though perhaps "fantasy" wasn't the right term to describe Raven's expectations; after all, he knew that it would be a tedious affair for the majority of the evening. However, he didn't know it would be such a grueling experience.

An acrid taste coated the prince's mouth as he recalled the bitter memory of having his dance with his dearest friend- Rena, get abruptly cancelled, all because little miss bitch-Eve; couldn't keep a reign on her retainers. The dance had been an irksome, headache inducing event even before that; however after that, it had become an absolute nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of eternity.

Being stuck in a room of mindless twits who chattered to each other in their shrill, airheaded voices; while the ladies ridiculously strong perfume provoked his allergies, making him feel like his skull was being split apart; was not his idea of a good time, by any means.

Ara meanwhile, had complained the whole time she was hungry and that those miniscule hors d'oeuvres were not satisfying in the slightest. She was an alright girl, but when she complained… she well… really wore down on Raven's nerves. Chung then pulled out a fat leather tome and started reading, adding much to Raven's frustrations.

How come Chung, who was barely 17, got so much flexibility in what he did; while Raven, who was going on 29, was still being dictated as what to do and what not to do? It was positively ludicrous in Raven's mind. Absolutely not fair in the slightest way, shape, or form.

If it wasn't for Rena Avaron, he would've run amok and shattered all the windows. He surely would've been severely reprimanded by his parents; however, at least he would've rid the ballroom of the pungent scent of dead flowers and vanilla, which stuck in his nose like molasses would stick to the jar.

Those thoughts continually plagued Raven's mind as he strolled over to the carriage, which was a dark shadow rimmed with gleaming white silver in the moonlight. Giving a curt nod to the driver, he opened the door and stepped inside the carriage; flopping down on the fine claret leather, at long last, showing his weariness.

As the prince slouched down, making himself comfortable, he felt a faint needle point prick the back of his neck, making his hair stand on end. His stomach twisted as the carriage started to move, the large wheels clattering over the cobbled stones, making the ride a very bumpy one.

"Who's there?" Raven rasped softly and narrowed his eyes, staring straight where Aisha was sitting (Though he did not know it was Aisha). The young songstress let out a small squeak and cowered underneath Raven's fierce glare, and was promptly rewarded with a cold, metallic claw to her neck.

"Kyaa!" She yelped as Raven's metallic hand wrapped itself around her throat, ramming her head into the ebon wood walls of the carriage. "Reveal yourself!" He barked in a harsh whisper and squeezed his hand.

The violet-haired mage gasped and struggled for air as oxygen was cut off to her brain, making lurid red spots dance in the back of his vision. Aisha squeaked as her eyes started to roll into the back of her head, mustering the last bit of strength she had; the songstress managed to gasp out a spell that nullified her invisibility.

"_The light shines and reveals all truth."_

"_Hide from thee not little shadow!"_

"_Show your face and let the light burn away all lies!" _

Raven yelped and threw his arms up to shield his eyes, as a brilliant light seared into existence; briefly painting everything with ghastly shadows. When the prince deemed it safe to remove his hands from in front of his eyes, he let out a small gasp before deadpanning and face palming himself.

"You… What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He snapped petulantly and narrowed his eyes, baring his teeth as he did so. Aisha pouted and crossed her arms. A single crystal tear welled up in the corner of her eye, making the ebon-haired prince feels somewhat ashamed despite himself.

"Why are you here?" He asked in a somewhat gentler tone. Aisha, upon hearing Raven's friendly tone broke out into a sunny smile and gave Raven her most endearing look.

"Remember that one time you snuck me out of the castle so I could attend the Alterian Market Fair?" She asked in a sugary voice that made Raven nearly piss his pants. His amber eyes grew wide with horror as he instantly comprehended what Aisha was getting at.

She wanted something, and if she did not get it, she would find a way to blackmail Raven. Ever since that one time he took pity on her and gave her some food while she was being forced to miss dinner as a punishment; she had instantly became Raven's friend.

However…

There was a small problem.

Being Aisha's friend oftentimes required doing difficult and hazardous to your health (Both physical and mental) tasks. If you declined whatever Aisha was asking you to do, she would find a way to mentally scar you for life.

Raven shuddered as he recalled the memory of the songstress giving Eve a picture of him sleeping with a teddy-bear in pink kitty pajamas. He did not know how the songstress had managed to get ahold of that picture, and he didn't want to know; however he did have a vague inkling as to how.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Raven hung his head with a dejected air and drew his lips into a thin grimace.

"What?"

* * *

_The fire was hot and the dancing embers stung his cheeks as he stood there paralytic, while everywhere around him was voraciously consumed by the avaricious flames. _

_Standing right in front of him was a young male around his age; his long, thick, and spiky hair secured haphazardly into a messy ponytail, a sick, demented grin splashed across his features. The heated breeze whipping the youth's ponytail as a charred wooden beam behind him let out an agonized groan, and collapsed to the ground, sending a shower of sparks up into the air. _

_The pungent smell of burned wood filled his nostrils, making his eyes water; and a thick grey smog entered his mouth, sending him into wild fits of frenetic coughing. _

_The crimson-haired youth standing in front of him widened his demented grin and slowly lifted his head up, revealing cold and harsh eyes of cerise. _

_Mustering the last of his strength, all he could do was muster a hoarse whisper full of hate, between cracked and bloodied lips. _

"_You… I… I w-will n-never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER-! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" _

_His weak whisper grew into a vehement shout and the dancing flames shot up into the air, wildly twisting around, responding to his anger. _

_The cold-eyed youth chortled darkly, his oversized white t-shirt flaring in and out as he slowly turned around, away from him. _

"_You would never understand… You would never understand Mu." The cold-eyed youth whispered softly, his words a razor to the helpless youth's ears. _

"_Y-you!" Mu whispered softly and collapsed to the ground as a thick grey fog rolled across his vision, obscuring it. _

"_Goodbye Mu… I hope you realized you only delayed it… You haven't stopped it." The cold-eyed youth whispered before disappearing as the flames rose up and swirled around him. _

"_Che!" Mu gasped as he used his last ounce of strength to stagger to his feet, right before collapsing to the ground again. _

_He couldn't fight it anymore, he couldn't stay up. _

_All Mu could do was lie there sobbing as hot salty tears streaked down his cheeks, while the fire's intensity scorched his flesh raw. _

_Just please… please let it all end now…_

In the infirmary, dull crimson eyes fluttered open. Elsword smiled forlornly and shifted to his side, watching the converging rainclouds gather, forming a thick, monochromatic barrier of grey.

All was silent in the infirmary, except for the faint rapping of the nurse's shoes against the polished linoleum; the overpowering scent of bleach hung in the air, making Elsword cringe slightly. For some reason, whenever Elsword smelled bleach, it made him nauseous and uneasy, as if one of the memories he had lost nine years ago was lying underneath the surface, trying to warn him of something.

The first drop of rain splattered against the window before trickling down, another soon followed, and then another, and another, and so on; until the window was rattling as the ferocious curtain of silvery rain continually rammed into it.

_Ah… the rain… it's always so cold…_

_And merciless…_

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**A special shout-out to Midnight Paladin who helped me out with some basic structural stuff! Thanks man! You're a life-saver and I'll try to incorporate your advice into future chapters! So, if you guys are looking for some good one-shots to read and such, I think you should check some of Pally's work out; he's really, really good :3**

**Chapter is finally over! I'm sorry for the wait! I meant to get it done sooner and with school starting and all that :L But I hope you enjoyed it anyways! Next chapter is the highly anticipated Elsword and Aisha meet each other moment! Ignotum has finally reared his ugly head! Things will heat up! Anyone see any connections between Elsword and Aisha already? ^W^ But eh… I think I got a little lazy towards the end, but meh… R&R for love and advice please! Here are my replies to my lovely reviewers! :DDD**

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**Tsurara Oikawa-chan- Oh my… It must've been my rushing… eh heh… -w-; I tend to derp when typing AN's and reviewer replies thanks to me rushing XcX But… I'm personally grateful NA doesn't have the skill revamp yet… makes things… easier… We so should've gotten just the new skills without the icky restrictions X/ Who knows… Maybe Helputt does play golf… OMG! New joke to add in this story XD And no… I'm no longer in the emo corner… I'm now in the emo box XD**

**Rosamanelle- Well… This update was a lot slower XP Eve is a bad guy, but she's sympathetic and soon to be the least of everyone's worries OwO What happened to your flawless psychic powers Rosa? OxO You only got one out of three! Not telling you which one though huehue… 'cause then you'd be able to deduce the story X3**

**AishaElementalMaster- Yeah… spell songs have a wide variety of purposes… No worries about the wording! All you have to do is think about it OwO**

**Cloudy Rabbit- Here you are after just short of eternity XDD I'm glad you think this is a good story though. Eh, I now have 25 reviews for 4 chapters… but that's nothing compared to some of the faaar more godly fics out there like RS x EM… This story is just a bunch of random ideas haphazardly strewn out to form a convoluted mess that can pass off as a story XD**

**Spirify- Oh the mysteries have just begun! XD Thanks for all the praise though, it's really sweet and self-assuring I'm not derping… too badly anyways *hides in the emo box***

**DigiDawg2- She was a songbird, not a prisoner. I'm glad you like the story and the words here! I try to have a wide variety of words, since it drives me insane when I see myself repeating the same words in a paragraph… Elsword is meeting Aisha by next chapter! Yay! *Throws rainbows all over* No rush on your stories, I'm not too terribly fast either X/ Yeah… this is somewhat similar to Durarara, each character has their own set of wounds and emotional scars, and their own troubles; however, they all come together eventually, leading to the main story; right now, we're sort of still introducing the various characters and their problems. So far we covered Elsword, Elesis, Aisha, Raven, and Eve. That leaves us with Chung, a mystery person (Who I will not tell), the Haan siblings, and Rena's stories to tell before the main conflict starts to emerge.**


	6. Before The Tragedy Soon To Come

**Elemental Aria**

**Before The Tragedy Soon To Come**

* * *

The rain started off as a gentle drizzle, really nothing more than a couple of silvery beads against the pristine glass windows of the carriage. But soon… it came down in a torrential downpour of nature's fury. The wind howled, seeping through the cracks of the ebon carriage and chilling the two occupants to the bone. It precariously rattled the carriage making the sturdy transport seem shambolic and shoddily made.

Then the thunder came.

In sudden spurts it illuminated the achromatic sky in evil incandescence before fading. The thunderous roar startled the horses and their desperate cries were stolen away by the wrathful storm.

Though the violet-haired songstress was timorous about the storm and her own safety, the ebon-haired prince was nonchalantly leaning against the maroon leather, arms cross and unperturbed by the vicious conditions outside. "Well… This weather matches my mood rather nicely…" He grumbled dourly, his amber eyes narrowed into little slits. Indeed the ill-weather was the perfect expression of how bitter his mood was, first the pandemonium at the ball and now he was being blackmailed by a kid who's barely bigger than a mosquito bite!

Exasperatedly, Aisha heaved a noisy sigh and crossed her legs, each of her movements tentative and irresolute. On one hand she was grateful towards the prince for not chucking her out the carriage, but on the other hand she was full well aware on how begrudging his attitude was. Though she was naïve and ignorant of the way the world worked, she was not stupid by any means and was full well aware that if she didn't have some… dirt on Raven, he probably would've turned her over. Especially, the mage calculated, since she had to choose to escape at the dance and she was no stranger to Raven's amorous feelings towards a certain golden-haired elf. Many times while she was looking out her view from the tower, she had seen the prince cavorting around with the elf among the alders and the locusts while the Kings and Lords would attend to their business whether it be feasting or compromising.

Eve had a fondness for holding dances and whatnot on a sporadic basis, and each time she would invite all the prominent figures to make merry among the glittering crystals and exotic aromas of fine food. The songstress grimaced as a hot burst of pain scratched her throat, as if recalling the mere memory of all the times she was forced to sing at those events was too much for her tender voice to bear. All those times Eve wore a fake smile and paraded her off just to tout about her immense wealth.

From what Aisha knew of her former mistress, she was the very definition of a "rich spoiled kid", except she was not ignorant or dependent on her daddy. The little snippets that Aisha had gleaned from the loose-lipped nobles were that Eve and her father were at a constant state of subtle warfare. They did not conduct their battles with weapons but with wits and words. Yet it was not much of a war, since Ignotum seemed to take an oddly passive stance when it came to the war of words; in fact, all the time Aisha had spent cooped up in the castle, she had only seen the current king of Altera once, and that was a fleeting glimpse from the window as he left to depart to wherever.

The faint noise of alarmed shouts pierced over the rumbling of the thunder, shattering Aisha's train of deep thought. Alarmed, her head shot up from her lap where she had been looking down with a pensive expression on her face and a loud gasp flew between her lips. Through the hazy veil of rain, the songstress could make out the ravaged shell of a cozy little section of Velder.

"Oh…my…" Raven trailed, his words fading into silence as he tried to find words to describe the wreckage that was laid out before their eyes. Velder Plaza, where the carriage had just arrived was in a derelict state of utter chaos. Shattered, blood-stained glass was scattered among the trampled remains of the once effervescent blossoms. The polished granite fountain was shattered and water was bubbling up from the ground, helping the rain in quelling the raging fires that attempted to devour the stone of the burnt-out shells of the plaza's buildings. Smeared rusty brown marks that looked ominously like blood was splattered all over in a random pattern, creating a macabre mural; it appeared as if the very Armageddon had occurred in this placid little section of Velder.

"What the-?" Aisha exclaimed and in one swift motion, stood up and prepared to jump out of the carriage to examine the wreckage. She was stopped by Raven who roughly grabbed her arm with his robotic arm and slammed her down into the seat. "Nobody but me knows you're here, you snuck in remember?" Raven rhetorically enquired, seeing the indignant retort that was on the tip of Aisha's tongue. Aisha pursed her lips into a straitlaced pout and folded her arms, acrimoniously rubbing on the swollen red welt Raven had left her with. "Ok…" She mumbled petulantly and slouched down lower in the seat. The ebon-haired prince's features softened for a brief second before resuming his naturally surly and apathetic air. Shooting one last look of warning, Raven stepped out of the carriage to survey the vestiges of Velder's plaza, despite the rain which was pouring down in freezing sheets.

* * *

"This was so not in the budget…" Were the only word's Raven could speak as he gaped wide-eyed at the mayhem. Despite the coachman's worry, the pompous little man broke out into a thin smile. "Indeed! And with the Queen's illness and the oncoming Festival! It seems like this year is cursed by the very gods themselves!" He spouted pretentiously and puffed his chest out, making him look like a bantam little cock, out strutting his stuff. A look only further enhanced by the red doublet with gold embroidery that he donned.

A sudden realization slammed into Raven's brain, making his elegant obsidian eyebrows jump straight into the air. "The knights I put on patrol out here!" He yelped and made a frantic dash back into the carriage. Alarmed, the carriage driver stiffened up into a ludicrously colored fence post. "My lord! Whatever has possessed you so?!" He enquired worriedly and chased right after Raven. The prince paused briefly in front the carriage doors, so as to not reveal Aisha, and stared down the driver with his intense golden eyes.

"Top speed to the castle. NOW. I need to check up on my retainers and count the losses." He said solemnly and motioned for the driver to return to the horses. The pompous little driver nodded and hastily went back to take his seat at the carriage front, near the footboard. "Full speed!" He barked and cracked the black leather reigns, spurring the sleek stallions into action.

The carriage lurched forward suddenly, eliciting a startled cry from Aisha as she was thrown forward in her seat, her head crashing against the seat opposite from her. "Kya!" She yelped and struggled to right herself as the carriage hurtled down the cobbled path at top speeds. Raven regarded her grimly and drew his lips into a thin line.

"Don't worry, you only have to put up with this for twenty more minutes." He replied, a note of cold smugness in his voice. Hearing the sardonic tenor in Raven's voice made Aisha wonder, not for the first time, why she considered the cold and aloof man her "friend".

* * *

The queen's bedroom was host to a disheartening atmosphere as several alchemists and healers gathered around the oaken canopy bed, forlorn expressions on each of their faces. For there, lying on the bed buried underneath swish sheets of satin and coverlets of velvet was the queen herself, in a most wretched state indeed. The queen's skin was sallow and the color of spoiled milk, her once ethereal and flawless skin was marked by several oozing sores that were a motley rainbow of rotten fruit, and giving off the rancid smell of tainted meat.

Her once clear and bright eyes were pallid and milky, and her chocolate tresses were dull and gnarled. Everything about her from her slurred speech to her feverish gaze was a symbol of the illness that had befallen her four months ago. At first it was just a simple little sore and she dismissed it, airily waving it off and saying "These things happen". Yet as time went on, that one little sore sowed several more sores on her body, and for some reason, they refused to heal, preferring to lie there and fester as the infection grew worse and worse. Desperate for a solution, the king had called for all the finest alchemists and healers to gather at the castle and look for a way to cure his wife's illness.

For three months now the alchemists slathered the queen with salves of sage and gave her elixirs made of ground up El, comfrey, and hyssop. Meanwhile, the healers chanted their songs of restoration, but it was all to no avail. The infection had spread and it was now at the point where her flesh was literally starting to rot. All they could do at that stage was try to keep the queen in as little pain as possible while the king in a state of extreme desperation did the very last thing anybody would think of doing…

"I can't believe he contacted the Haans!" A male alchemist, who looked like an affable little dog wearing an eye patch barked. The girl standing next to him –a youthful looking female with olive eyes and tanned skin- sighed exasperatedly and pushed up the oversized goggles that were starting to droop down and obscure her vision. "I know it's nuts, but let's face it… They know their alternative medicine." She snorted petulantly and grabbed a strawberry-swirled lollipop out of her brown satchel and popped it in her mouth. The dog man glowered darkly at the youthful female but was interrupted by a timorous looking male with large grey eyes and short hair that was pitch-black.

"I-I th-think Gr-grail has a p-point E-Echo…" He stammered worriedly and pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses. "T-the ol-oldest s-scares… me…" His stuttering statement was met by an acrimonious glare from the silverette alchemist. "Well!" Echo huffed indignantly and flipped her long spiky locks. "I think you're over reacting you two. The eldest is more scared of you than you are of him." The remark came from an amiable bear-like figure whose jovial voice was surprisingly resonant.

The silverette broke out into a brief fit of fleeting laughter and lost her lollipop in the process. "Damn…" She mumbled testily as she starred resentfully at it. "I mean just one look at a dentist drill!" The bear-like man exclaimed and cocked his head to the side, his coal black eyes merry despite the sorrowful situation everyone in the room was in. Grail heaved a noisy sigh and grabbed his oversized mug of aromatic black coffee off the Queen's dresser. "It wasn't the oldest I was concerned about… Though there is something fishy about him… It's the youngest who really makes my nose itch." He said sagely in a gravelly voice.

"Yeah… but you said something was off about Elsword when he was rescued by Elesis nine years ago." Echo snorted and pulled out another lollipop, obviously dependent on the sugary sweet to satisfy whatever mouth habit she had. At the mention of Elsword's name, Grail's dark doe brown eyes turned to a stormy flint in color and a low growl escaped his throat. "I'm not so much concerned about him as I am terrified of him…" The dog man snarled and took a deep quaff from his mug. Allegro gawked incredulously at Grail, the bear man chortled lowly, and Echo rolled her eyes flippantly.

"Go back to playing with your dog bones Grail."

* * *

The silvery sheet continued to descend from the gloomy heavens in an icy river, discouraging any loiterers on the grimy dirt streets of the slums. Not even the harlots, druggies, or the clueless idiot could be found on the dirt road as it was turned into a shallow stream of mud. No one was on the streets…

Except for a tall figure swathed in black shadows who was looking up at the sky, reminiscing over something that had occurred in the past. The rain it was always so cold… and merciless… Sighing, the figure looked down and spun around, the billowy cloak of shadows dripping beads of water with each movement.

"Nyu… Beta is now in the city of Velder." A resonant voice stated. Looking unperturbed, the figure shot a nonchalant glance at the corpulent lavender and white bat who had just materialized out of thin air.

A dark smirk crossed the figures lips and replied, "Excellent Angkor, so that makes three?"

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**Ok. So I lied… Elsword and Aisha aren't meeting each other until the next chapter… *Cowers* I'M SORRY! BUT SCHOOL AND BEING GROUNDED AND- *Rants* Well… it makes for really lousy updating… It took everything I had to squeeze this update out of me… But next weekend should be good for updates! Yay! Oh yeah! It's "Solve this mystery for a one-shot time!" I gave a HUGE hint about the cloaked figure! Whoever can guess the identity of the figure will get a one-shot! Things are going to get crazy! So… does anyone else think the new DW art is terribad? Q.Q It made me cry… I liked ol' cone face! QAQ And the NW art looks weird… But I'm rejoicing over the EM nerf! That was long overdue! Time to reply to my lovely reviewers! :3**

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**Cloudy Rabbit- Hopefully I'll be able to get to the romance! Things should get really break-necked pace in about 3 chapters! Aisha… don't mess with her… She knows no bounds the girl! XD Trust me Cloudy, Eve will soon be the least of everyone's worries… The very least…**

**Tsurara Oikawa-chan- I'm so sorry… Elsword and Aisha's meeting has been delayed due to derpiness on my part and my extreme noobiness/ laziness… School and angry parents are terrible recipes for updates O3O As for Speka…. Nyu XD *Shot* **

**HanaEve- I thought Tsurara did a bootiful job in her one-shot though O3O But I'm glad you think it's good**

**Rosamanelle- no… you're psychic… And I'm mailing over a pic of Raven in care bear PJ's right now… XDDD And no Ran… though Ran WILL be in the story… You'll never be able to guess what role he is… despite your psychic prowess… XDD**

**MidnightPaladin- THANK YOU SO MUCH! :,DDD You don't know how helpful you were! I tried to cut down on semicolons this chapter, and I think I succeeded without butchering sentence structure TOO horribly XDD Your criticism was soo helpful! And my description on par with The Breathless World? Don't even… that's too much praise for me :,DD But you really made my day with your review, despite the critical tone… I hope I managed to improve! And as for the plot… I was going to go for high school of magic stuff but I decided to go with something a little different… I mean we do have a couple of music fics on the Elsword archives, but all of them are pop star ones… nothing about using music for magic or healing or fighting… What's weird is that the music originally started off as the main argument, but now it's like a gimmick to help sort of explain how the world works now… O_O I guess the magic is now a rule rather than a story XDD **


	7. In Circles the Vultures Fly

**Elemental Aria**

**In Circles the Vultures Fly**

* * *

To Aisha, the only castle she had ever seen were the whimsical crystal dwellings of fairytales and the mellifluous fortress of Altera. Yet, the stronghold towering before her made those palaces seem so impractical and fragile. Composed of grey bricks hewn from stark black granite and lacking the airy spires the purplenette had been so accustomed to seeing, it was impenetrable in her eyes yet it was depressing. An impression further strengthened by the dismal grey storm clouds that hung across the sky.

"What a depressing place…" Aisha murmured aloud without even realizing it. Hearing her thoughts, Raven stiffened and gave Aisha a withering glare, but hastily averted it when the songstress looked up at him. "It's my home." Raven said icily and stepped out of the carriage. "Come on." He beckoned for the songstress with a chaffed expression, causing her to cock her head to the side and stare at the prince with an incredulous expression.

"What?" She asked, not quite comprehending what Raven was doing. "Get out." Raven stated flatly, his voice carrying a harsh edge to it and causing the purplenette to purse her lips into a petulant pout. "I was just wondering! After you made such a big deal about keeping me in that wretched machine!" She snapped acrimoniously and stepped out of the carriage, giving it one hard kick for good measure. The action was intended to relieve her frustrations; unfortunately all it did was make her toe throb with a blistering pain and knocked her on her butt on the muddy ground. "Dammit…" She sighed angrily and staggered to her feet, futilely attempting to brush the mud that had adhered to the back of her dress. All she succeeded in was smearing the dirt all over her even more.

Watching her with immense amusement, Raven drew his lips into a smug smirk and held his head up high. "Well, we're home and you can blend in somewhat more easily this way." Right on cue, as if the universe was trying to prove some point, the coachman stepped off his seat and walked over to where the two were talking, thoroughly curious as to who that violet haired woman was.

"Excuse Lord Raven? Where did that woman come from?" He probed and stared warily at Aisha. The purplenette froze over like an ice statue, suddenly drawn into a mind-numbing torpor, it was as if all brain functions shut down and she couldn't think of any plausible explanation as to why she was here. Luckily, Raven came to her rescue.

"She is the new priestess that I had contacted in order to fill in the position of our last priestess as you know had… died under mysterious circumstances…"

Aisha gulped, mysterious circumstances? That was never EVER good. From all the stories she had read, mysterious circumstances always meant death via a psycho killer who liked to chop women up and preserve their genitals.

"I didn't let anyone know about this because I wanted her to take a trial run and see if she was actually proficient. If she turned out to be ineffectual, I didn't want it to become official and have a huge observance and whatnot for naught." Raven plowed on, surprisingly adept in coming up with such a firm lie right on the spot. Aisha thought and widened her eyes, brushing away a dripping strand of lavender that was literally streaming a little river of water.

Yet it wasn't exactly a lie. Sure it had been unplanned, but Raven was thinking about recruiting a new priestess since Velder had been without one since the death of Noah nine years ago. It was bad luck to be without a priestess, so all the old wives say. Normally, Raven regarded such sayings about luck, fate, and etcetera with a grain of salt; to him what happened to somebody was the consequence of their own action, not the work of some mysterious entity with divine powers. Yet… yet, ever since Velder had lost Noah, the normally prosperous and sleepy kingdom had been besieged with a variety of problems such as periodic demon invasions, and the mysterious illness of the Queen just to name a couple of the calamities that had befallen Velder.

He was taking a huge risk here; Raven had no clue as to what Aisha's abilities were. If the purplenette turned out to be a dud, he had no plan as to what to do. On one hand, he was sorely tempted to hand her back to Eve, but that would be problematic as the Alterian Heiress would surely blame him and also, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Yet, on the chance that her magical prowess was as powerful as her voice was beautiful she might be able to save Raven's mother. Sure, the prince knew that there was the manner of the Haans who were coming over and would most likely be able to cure the Queen's illness, but he did not relish the idea of Velder being indebted to Fahrmann. Yes, there would be some apologies but Aren Haan was a reasonable man and he did not take offense easily, unlike his mother who was in Raven's opinion, neurotic and bipolar, a condition that had only gotten worse since the disappearance of Ara's and Aren's father nine years ago.

"Ok then," The coachman replied and then perked his eyebrows up as if suddenly remembering something. "May I ask what the young woman here is going to be doing?" He asked inquisitively, directing his inquiry towards Raven. Raven drew his lips into a somber expression and gave Aisha a stern look, mentally signaling for her to shut up and not say anything. The purplenette nodded back, understanding the meaning in his severe glare.

"She's going to heal the Queen." Raven stated in a calm voice and set his face into a firm mask. The coachmen gaped incredulously at Raven like he had grown an extra limb or something before blinking and shaking his head. "But all the others have failed and the Haans have already been contacted!" He yelped, failing to conceal the astonishment in his voice. He cowered as Raven gave him a steely glare, silencing all further questions he had.

"I will compensate the Haans for their time accordingly, and you are getting ripe in your years, are you not?" Raven enquired curtly. The prince's enquiry was met with a deferential nod. Raven's expression softened by a millimeter and he drew his lips into a faint, but warm smile.

"A priestess is far stronger than any normal magician, have faith my old man." He said soothingly and jovially patted his sheepish retainer on the back. "Ah… of course." The carriage driver replied and sank into a polite bow. "Thank you for helping me to see through my erroneous doubt. If there is no further need, I shall be on my way." The little man said and looked at the prince for further instruction. With an airy wave, Raven dismissed the carriage driver.

"You have no further need to stay, you are hereby dismissed."

With those words, the coachman left the area, humming a jaunty tune to himself as he strolled away from the purplenette and the prince. Once he was out of sight, a rather bewildered-looking Aisha simply exploded.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY HEALING THE QUEEN?! WHAT IN ALL EL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANY HEALING SPELLS! I DIDN'T-" Aisha's rant was abruptly cut off as Raven slammed his robotic hand over the songstress's mouth. With a cold, clipped voice that was all frozen ice, he reprimanded the songstress.

"Stop shouting, it's downright childish. Remember your place here, I could've thrown you out of the carriage and then you would be screwed. Remember, no amount of humiliating bunny PJ pictures can change the fact that I'M the one doing the favors here." He scowled and narrowed his eyes into little slits, staring down Aisha.

Aisha opened her mouth in an attempt to protest, but thanks to Raven's hand, it all came out as muffled sounds. "Mmph!" She grunted and attempted to wrench herself free from Raven's grasp. In response, he tightened it.

"MMPH!" She started to thrash around wildly. "Shut up you little brat." Raven growled. "Do you understand?" He scowled in a virulent tone. Aisha snorted contemptuously and stared him down, as if trying to say "screw you". With a soft hiss, Raven released his grip on the purplentte. "Why you little brat…" He muttered petulantly and gave Aisha a sulky glare.

"You're the brat!" Aisha exclaimed and stamped her foot on the ground, looking absolutely livid. Raven froze and slowly, his facial expression twisted from disdainful and exasperated to absolutely incensed. "What did you say?" He hissed in a dangerously soft voice. A milky-blue vein in Aisha's neck bulged as the songstress grinded her teeth together.

"You save me only to give me orders and sign me up for things I didn't want to do. You're as bad as Eve." She growled and curled her upper lip in an expression of distaste. "Just because you're rich you think you own everything and that you can boss people around, it's disgusting." She continued and furrowed her brow. Much to her surprise, Raven dropped his vehement expression in favor of a calmer but equally chilling expression.

There was a brief moment of silence and then the prince busted out into a fit of dark, humorless laughter. "What's so funny?!" Aisha yelped, looking alarmed. Raven clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter but he only succeeded in making it louder.

"You have no clue kid. That's how the world is, the strong bully the weak. Everyone has their own motives and their own reasons, whether it be selfish or honorable. You're no different, you attempted to blackmail me and you succeeded, but now that I've done you a favor, you're now at my mercy." Raven managed to spit out in between snorts. Aisha's heart plummeted to her stomach, had she dropped one tyrant in favor of another? What sort of sick, twisted irony was this? Was it the universe's way of telling her she was to be forever enslaved?

Raven managed to regain his composure and he spun away from Aisha as she stood there with a helpless expression on her face. The rain, it continued to pour downwards degrading the world into a mournful misty haze, ashen in colour.

"You should go to the Royal Library; it ought to have several tomes on healing spells." Raven called out behind him as he walked away. Stunned, Aisha watched him leave until he disappeared into the grey.

* * *

Though the outside of the castle was austere, the interior of the spacious castle betrayed its practical aura. Opulently painted heavens inhabited by rosy-faced cherubs adorned the ceiling, making it seem as if the castle opened up to the heavens themselves. Graceful pillars of highly polished granite branched outwork, forming intricately intertwining patterns of stone that crisscrossed and weaved their way below the heavens. The marble tiles were highly polished and echoed Aisha's every step while the plush velvet carpet looked so luxuriant that the songstress was tempted to lie down on them and take a nap.

Yet, the thing that agitated her was all the people. Clad in sumptuous silks, velvets, and linens they had a refined if rather placid air. They looked, as one would put it, "refined". Yet, all the etiquette they had learned over the course of their lives did not prevent them from gawking at the songstress; however as soon as Aisha looked their way, they hastily averted their gaze, as if she didn't see them or anything. While passing by them, she could hear them whispering to their company "Who is that girl?"

It made Aisha's cheeks flame and gave her butterflies in her stomach. She wanted to find the library; the songstress highly doubted that there would be too many people there. While she was walking around aimlessly, pondering as to where the archives could be, a rather frazzled-looking young woman with spiky crimson hair hurried by her.

"Excuse me!" Aisha called out after her, breaking into a brisk walk as the crimsonette hurried on, pretending that she didn't hear her. "Excuse me!" Aisha cried out, louder this time and broke into a run. The crimsonette stopped abruptly, causing Aisha to slam into her. "Oof!" Aisha yelped as her butt crashed into the floor. "What?" The crimson-haired woman snapped petulantly and glowered at Aisha, her ruby-red eyes narrowed, not so much in anger, as in exasperation.

"Do you know where the library is?" Aisha asked and rose to her feet, rubbing her derriere as she did so. The crimsonette cocked a curious eyebrow at her, before understanding dawned on her, softening her facial expression. "Oh! You must be new here." She stated her tenor much more amicable now. Aisha nodded and tucked a strand of lavender behind her ear. "Yes, I am." She said sweetly and flashed the crimsonette an apprehensive smile.

The crimsonette drew her lips into a thin line. "Well, I apologize for my earlier rudeness. I'm in a sort of foul mood, but that was still no excuse- ah, forget it. What's done is done. My name is Elesis by the way." She said in a rapid-fire stream of conscience. Aisha nodded and hastily made a mental note to herself. The crazy cerise-haired women's name was Elesis.

"Yeah… so to uh like answer your question, the library is up those stairs." As she said those words, Elesis pointed a black-gloved hand towards a set of spiraling stairs, the golden wristband she donned glinting dully in the gently flickering candlelight from the crystal chandeliers overhead. "Thanks!" Aisha chirped jubilantly and headed towards where Elesis was pointing. Once she had placed a foot on the step, Elesis suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask.

"Oh yeah?!" Aisha froze and turned around. "Yes?" She enquired, and cocked her head to the side. "Have you seen Raven?" Aisha's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean the prince?" She inquired curiously. Elesis nodded, "Yeah, him… Pfft… went off to a ball while we were…" The rest of her words faded into a recondite mumble that the purplenette could not make out.

"I was just with him," Aisha replied. "I don't know where he went off to though." The crimsonette snorted disdainfully. "Probably sulking over some little thing… Pfft… oh boy, just wait until he finds out!" She muttered with an acrimonious smile on her face. Aisha stared incredulously at Elesis, now extremely curious. "What?" She probed.

Elesis sighed and with the fiery gold amulet that hung from a black thread around her neck. "The engagement, Raven is engaged to Eve… not that he knows anything about it of course, the arrangements were just made about a week ago in light of Velder's current economic situation. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Eve didn't know either."

Cold, icy terror gripped at Aisha's innards, freezing them before shattering them into a million little pieces. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she couldn't think. All color was leeched out of Aisha's vision, leaving it shrouded in an achromatic shroud.

She had successfully escaped… she had fled Altera… only to find that she would be placed back under Eve's control.

"Of course it's going to take a load of time to actually make all the arrangements and crap." Elesis's voice sounded like it was a mile away, her irritated sigh just a mere wind whisper. "But… why would Altera agree?" Aisha breathed, clutching at the mahogany railing of the winding stairs to support herself. "What?" Elesis asked, cocking her head to the side. "Why would Altera agree?" Aisha repeated her hollow voice louder this time. Elesis snorted and crossed her arms, a grim smile on her face.

"Altera wants Bethma. Bethma has some of the largest mines in all of Elrios, if Altera managed to gain control of the Bethmian province, they would have control of almost all of Elrios's mineral deposits. Their power would become unmatched. They could make all the war machines they wanted and all the other kingdoms would still suck up to them, simply because they would suffer if they didn't. Quite a frightening prospect, especially since what I've heard about the Alterian Royal Bloodline is not cherries and rainbows."

Aisha wanted to break down and cry, so she did.

With great shuddering sobs she collapsed to her knees, fat crystal tears streaming down her cheeks and leaving sticky moist trails. Alarmed, Elesis rushed over to the purplenette and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "What's the matter?!" She yelped, utterly alarmed.

Aisha didn't answer, just gave one last convulsive sob before collapsing to the ground unconscious.

"Oh crap…" Elesis mumbled and placed her hand on Aisha's forehead. "Meingott!" Elesis swore violently as she felt the frigid clamminess of the songstress's forehead. "Got to take her to the infirmary…" She murmured to no one in particular and hefted Aisha over her shoulder. Despite the purplenette's waifish appearance she was unexpectedly weighty. "Need to lay off the birthday cake." Elesis grunted and made her way to the medical wing.

* * *

"Sis?" Elsword cracked open a bleary eye as he heard the faint rapping of footsteps against the polished linoleum of the medical bay. Sure enough, it was her, looking exhausted and harassed but otherwise unscathed. She had changed out of her white sleeveless jerking and pleated skirt in favor of a snowy-white jacket and black midriff vest. Her hair had been presumably washed and was now done in a spiky style and slung over her shoulder was a young woman clad in a plum-hued dress and her hair was the most jarring shade of lavender.

"Oh good, you're awake you dummy." Elesis sighed and walked over to where he was lying, placing the lavender-haired girl on the unoccupied bed next to him. "Who's that?" Elsword's question was met with a cantankerous glare.

"Really? No explanation as to what you just did back there?!" The crimsonette snapped, deliberately ignoring her younger brother's question. "Sis! I was just asking a question!" He yelped and shot up in his bed, throwing the crisp cotton covers off him as he did so.

"And I'm demanding an answer!" Elesis hissed in between clenched teeth. "That was so very reckless of you! How do you think I would've felt if you died?" She snapped her voice a wild mash-up of anger and concern. Elsword looked down for a brief moment and bit his bottom lip, when he looked up he was surprised to find that his sister's eyes were shining with suppressed tears.

"You… -hic-" A tear escaped Elesis and so did a hiccupping sob. "You- hic- you're like a brother to me… -hic- dummy." Another tear escaped the crimsonette. Rubbing it away, she glowered at Elsword her face red and swollen. Elsword just stared at her dumbfounded; in all the years he knew her he had only seen her get this emotional three times. He didn't consider what he did such a big deal and he hadn't been that badly hurt, so why was his strong-willed sister getting so weepy now?

"Sis… what's the matter?" He asked his voice soft and rich with concern. With one swift motion, Elesis stood up and glared angrily at her brother.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT!" Elesis screeched ardently, the normally invisible aura surrounding her taking form and suppurating into blistering flames that swirled wrathfully around her. "WOAH!" Elsword screamed and threw himself out of the bed.

"YOU ARE GROUNDED!" She shrieked, her emotions causing the fiery pillar that danced around her to flare up, illuminating the room with an incandescent light that threw ghastly shadows on the floors and the walls.

This fire… something was stirring in the back of Elsword's mind… no it was in his chest, a song, faint but clear. It reverberated in his chest and filled his mind with an ominous delirium.

_Dancing, swirling, all you see is rusty red._

_Remember this story it has no end._

_Embers they float in the sky._

_Remember why?_

_You did this._

_I cannot see anything through the flames…_

_All I see is a misty haze._

Just as suddenly as the flames had come, they died out. The only evidence they had ever existed were the smoldering embers that floated around Elesis like a couple of feeble fireflies. Elsword opened his mouth to enquire as to what had just occurred, but before he could, Elesis ran out of the room leaving him alone with the purplenette who was peacefully sleeping, unperturbed by the pandemonium.

Yet, for Aisha… the future held no promise.

And for Elesis, the past was of no comfort.

* * *

**And that concludes the seventh chapter of EA! If what Elesis said was any indication, things aren't going to be peaceful for more than another couple of chapters! But I'm proud of the length of this chapter and I don't think it was TOO horrible. Could use some work, but eh… I could always use work. And DESU-CHAAAMAAA! Remember the deal we made! You now have to update IHY/ ILY since I updated this! Raven has revealed that he's not always a nice guy, the kingdom of Altera has something up their sleeves, and Elesis is hiding something from Elsword! Anybody see a pattern relating to a certain number of years? Hmm? I'm probably saying too much so here are the replies to my lovely reviewers! :3**

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**Spirify- They sort of meet… Better interaction by next chapter… I promise! I guess… I have slow pacing… Me? Flawless? Ah hahahah… Naaah…**

**Tsurara Oikawa-chan- I must be tormenting you… I'm sorry XP Hey, what can I say? Your one-shot is one of the best one-shots for Elsword out there! :D**

**AishaElementalMaster- And now I must beg the question… Are you two sisters or IRL friends or something? O_O**

**HanaEve- They still sing, and singing is still important. It just went from being the main MAIN idea to sort of a main idea.**

**Cloudy Rabbit- Phone's die unfortunately Q.Q No, it's not VP but don't feel bad because the figure does pertain to- *Slaps hand over the mouth* Can't say too much or I'll give it away. Elsword is going to get hit… a lot. Yeah, Raven is cool but he's not all as Elesis would put it "Cherries and rainbows."**

**SakuraLina- Haylo Saku-Sama! :3 My stories godly? O_O Eh heh =w=; Mistakes in my story? Yeah… I figured that much QxQ Yup, Beta is Aisha, Mu is Elsword, and the cloaked figure is Nyu… but who is Nyu? OwO I can't say Nyu's gender as it would reveal too much but how 'bout removing the "Y" from Nyu? What does that leave you with? I'd also suggest looking up a little about the Ancient Greek Alphabet, that is the HUGE hint… kind of like homework *Shot* **


	8. Elsword and a Code To Break

**Elemental Aria**

**Elsword and a Code To Break**

* * *

Sighing, Aren brushed his obliquely slanted bangs away from his left eye. Gently, he bit his bottom lip and tetchily tapped his foot against the highly polished stones of the walkway. Where was Ara? She was supposed to be here ten minutes ago? Aren deliberately shook his head and squinted his eyes as the harsh sunlight stung his eyes, scanning the horizon for his younger sister. In the courtyard of the palace, several fat snowy-white locusts' buds hung salaciously from the thorny branches. A highly polished marble fountain with an adroitly carved _kitsune _spat out a cheerfully babbling stream of water. In the branches of the weeping willows, several larks sang, their sweet cries ringing through the air. A gentle breeze wafted through the area, caressing the silky black fabric of Aren's shirt tails and causing them to squirm.

"Nii-sama! Sorry I'm late! But I-" A soft smile from Aren halted Ara's rapid-fire stream of words as she came running into the clearing, the creamy white and orange fabric of her outfit billowing out behind her as she darted towards Aren. "It's ok Ara. We're going to be gone from here for a couple of weeks if everything goes according to plan. It's best to make sure that you're ready so we don't have to come gallivanting back here." He replied and placed a reassuring hand on the ebonette's shoulder. Ara smiled thinly and fiddled with the hairpin that secured the braided bands of hair together. "Yeah… I see your point… Huh… We probably shouldn't spend any more time than necessary with _her_." The ebonette sighed bemusedly and fiddled with the long lance that was slung over her shoulder, the gleaming point of the ornate weapon glittering malignantly.

Eyeing the cruelly beautiful weapon and his shameless younger sister with a reproachful expression, Aren fiddled with the amber brooch and pursed his lips into a curt line. "Ara… watch your tone. That's our mother." He snapped icily, his stiffened posture reflecting his suddenly soured mood. Ignoring the warning signs, Ara snorted acrimoniously and rolled her eyes. "She's crazy Nii-Sama. You know that as well as I do. She's been a-" A harsh slap from Aren silenced her instantly.

"Hey!" Ara yelped as she clapped her hands over her rosy swollen cheek. Aren deadpanned and spoke in a terse, clipped tone. "Ara. How many times… Have I told you to watch what you say? Yes. Our mother is sick. She's still in shock over our father's disappearance but you still possess no right to badmouth her." He chided and crossed his arms. Ara huffed indignantly and stuck her nose up in the air, trying vainly to ignore her now cross older brother.

"You should also stop spear-fighting. It's too precarious and not becoming to a young woman of your echelon." Aren's words drilled into her skull, bringing up a long-debated over topic… the infamous spear-fighting hobby Ara enjoyed. At that point Ara snapped and her eyes flashed a vivid blood-red, causing Aren's imposing posture to wilt at the murderous look in his younger sister's eyes.

"I can hardly wait 'til we get to Velder. You'll have your _girlfriend_ to keep you occupied so you'll stop harassing me." Ara scoffed acrimoniously and flipped her hair in a contemptuous gesture. Aren blazed a vivid crimson and with an abashed expression, he pressed his lips into a thin line and looked away from his sister. "She's not my girlfriend Ara." He snipped coolly and brushed off his sleeves, his retort earning a dubious look from the ebonette.

"Sure… that one time-"

"It was an accident!" Aren snapped, interrupting Ara before she could finish her sentence. Ara laughed humorlessly and fiddled with the silver hairpin she wore. Aren eyed her uneasily, if that hairpin came undone at the wrong time…

"You know you want to go and-"

"Shut up Ara."

* * *

Consciousness returned to Aisha in a fuzzy haze. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered opened weakly revealing ephemeral crescents of lavender before sliding shut. However she was awake, she could feel the crisp linen sheets swaddling her and she could hear the distant footsteps of someone and a worried female's murmurs. "Winding up in the hospital…can't believe it… might as well put the whole castle on death watch…" The woman's voice faded in and out like a badly tuned radio. Perhaps most peculiarly, Aisha felt a weird tingling on her skin, not unlike the sensation she received whenever she was performing in front of a large crowd.

"And you mister! Have some respect for this young miss's privacy!" The female blared sounding somewhat indignant. The purplenette's eyelids flew open and she shot straight up, looking absolutely wild, trying to see who was being told off. On the bed next to hers' was a young redhead with a handsome face and a sheepish grin. It didn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots. "Were you spying on me?!" Aisha snapped and threw the covers off her onto the linoleum floor, earning a disgruntled look from the plump little nurse who had been serving as the infirmary's warden.

The redhead tried to assume a deadpan expression but it was futile as that same roguish grin kept cracking through his otherwise impeccable mask. "Maaaybeeee…" He drawled in a way that lucidly pointed the blame to him. Aisha's face grew livid. "Why you-" Hastily the redhead interjected seeing the incensed expression on the songstress's face. "It technically wasn't spying! You were right next to me and out cold!" He exclaimed and threw his hands up into the air.

"So you were peeping on me while I was asleep!" Aisha snarled and she looked down at she was donning. She had been changed out of her soiled plum-colored dress and into an austere white nightie. "And I was changed as well- oh my El! You weren't peeping while I was getting- oh you pervert!" She cried, her face deepening to a blotchy red hue.

Watching the ruddy red blush on the purplenette's face deepen until it was a uniform shade of beet strongly reminded Elsword of a pressure cooker, not a good thing at all. All of his knowledge told him this much… she was about to go off on him. Trembling, he shot out of bed and took cover; of course, it would not have done him any good if the songstress would've uttered a quick curse in her anger. Thankfully for him, the nurse intervened saving him from being turned into a crisp.

"Relax miss… you were changed in a separate room. Standard policy here." She consoled Aisha soothingly and rushed over to the bed where the songstress was standing, leering at Elsword in a very unpleasant way. Her warm mature voice at complete odds with her frazzled flyaway hair and shining eyes, which would suggest to one that she was normally not proficient enough for a job as hectic as nursing; however she was one of the best and she was well-versed in human behavior… and Aisha's behavior was screaming "attack!"

Hearing the nurse's words, Aisha took a deep breath and forced herself to sit down, though she did not drop the fervid scowl that was plastered on her face. A tense moment of thick silence descended before Elsword timidly sat back up on the bed, rustling the sheets as he did so. Heaving an exasperated sigh, the nurse wiped her brow. "Do you two need anything before I leave?" She enquired, silently praying that they did not give her an excuse to stay any longer. If a… regrettable mishap occurred, she did not want to have to bear witness at the trial. The purplenette lessened her vehement scowl somewhat to address the nurse-"No thank you, we're good"- before blasting it at full fury towards Elsword who rolled his eyes bemusedly.

"Then I shall be on my way." The nurse replied and sank into a quick curtsy before hurrying herself down the hall and away from the two youths. Once she was out of earshot, Aisha resumed her ferocious assault. "Don't you have any sense of decency? That's what creepers do!" She snarled and stood up, though on the floor this time so she could get into Elsword's face. Elsword narrowed his eyes and backed away from Aisha, leaning his head against the pillow that was propped up against the austere steel headrest. Aisha mimicked his movement, leaning her head forward so she was right into Elsword's personal, _personal _space. Yes, Elsword was a flirtatious and fun-loving youth who didn't mind getting up close and… personal with people (Especially if they were pretty girls), but she was just getting far too close for comfort.

"Your breath smells…" Elsword mumbled which was a blatant lie. Aisha's breath was actually very sweet and reminded him of vanilla cupcakes, and if she wasn't giving him a murderous glare he would peck her on the lips which was his traditional greeting to every pretty girl he met (Save for Rena because Raven would slit his throat in the dead of night and throw him off the West Tower's windowsill). Aisha's eyes snapped open wide at Elsword's insult and she jerked backwards. "Why you-"

"Dawww… seriously… About to make out already? Do it in the bathroom." A familiar voice drawled lazily and in came Raven who was wearing his usual mask of sullen boredom. Elsword chuckled and Aisha just goggled at Raven incredulously as if he had suddenly sprouted an extra head. "What the El? Absolutely not! This guy's a jerk!" She yelped and made a mad dash to scramble back into her own bed, pointing animatedly towards Elsword who had covered his mouth in order to stifle his laughs, but he only succeeded in making a weird sputtering noise.

"Shut up!" Aisha exclaimed and buried her head underneath the covers. Much to her dismay Raven joined in. "Stoooooop!" Aisha howled and curled up into a little ball, throwing the sheets over her. The ebon-haired prince let out one more hearty laugh before forcing himself to regain his composure. With a twitching straight line on his face, he walked over to Aisha and placed a reassuring hand on her head. "If Elsword did anything… should I say 'suggestive'? Don't take it that he's a creep. I mean he is-"

"Hey!" Elsword yelped and threw a pillow at Raven who dodged it with incredible grace. "-but take it as a compliment of sorts. You see, he only flirts with cute girls." Raven continued before tapping his chin thoughtfully with a gleaming finger from his metallic arm. "Though if he was hitting on you… I might need to get his vision checked." He added in a roguish tone. Instantly, Aisha bolted upright and punched Raven's human arm. "JERK!" She screamed before diving underneath the covers and taking refuge there. Raven frowned and rubbed his throbbing limb carefully before looking at Elsword with an amazed stare.

"Why is it that the longer she stays here, the harder I'm hoping that she fails?" Raven mumbled under his breath, averting his gaze and looking outside the window. The clouds were beginning to disperse and dawn was coming, portending the start of a new day. Outside, warm orange was staining the edges of the inky black creating a convivial mixture of baby blue and lavender. "Fail what?' Elsword enquired curiously and cocked his head to the side like a puppy. "I have to do some stupid little thing along the lines of healing some queen…" Aisha grumbled tersely from underneath the covers. The redhead's eyes widened to the size of cantaloupes. "Heal the Queen!" He exclaimed and shot an inquisitive glance at Raven who nodded calmly and crossed his arms, shooting a furtive glance at the sheet-covered lump called.

"That's right. Aisha here is a young songstress who was in a bad fix, so I generously-" Aisha snorted sardonically at Raven's words. "-I generously offered her a place to stay if she could heal the Queen of her affliction." Raven pressed on, glaring snippily at Aisha. "But the Haans-" Elsword exclaimed but was cut off by a steely look from the prince. "I'll deal with the Haans when they get here-" Raven snapped icily "-But do not question me, I know full well as to what I'm doing." The purplenette let out a hollow laugh. "I have no knowledge of healing spells. Personally, I think it was a dirty trick what you did there." She drawled dryly and shifted around. Raven smirked and narrowed his eyes. "Well… if you do not want to earn your keep here, I can always throw you out of the castle." He threatened in a dangerously light tone. Aisha shot up, the sheets flying off her, and her expression was livid. "If you do that, I'll-"

"I'll take her." Elsword volunteered and raised a hand, his face was looking down at his laps and he was trembling with suppressed laughter. Aisha grimaced and raised her eyebrows, forming an agonized expression on her face as if it was the most abhorrent idea ever. "No thanks. I'd rather be homeless." She retorted tartly and took refuge once more, underneath the covers. Raven snorted and brushed away his ebon bangs which were starting to drift lazily into his eyes. "Do you want to be homeless?" He enquired in that same perilously light tenor. Aisha shuddered visibly beneath the covers and replied in a dejected tone, "No."

Raven smiled in a superior way and shot a smug look at Elsword who was just gawking at both the prince and the songstress, at a loss for words. "I'll take you to the library where you can look up healing spells." Raven said in a civil if supercilious tone. Aisha warily slid the covers off her head. "What's a library?" She enquired dubiously. The term sounded familiar but she could not place any definition to the word. "Say what?" Elsword enquired, trying hard to not burst into laughter. Raven heaved an exasperated sigh and deadpanned. "I forgot that you're totally stupid. A library is a place where books are kept."

Instantly, Aisha bolted right out of bed and quickly brushed her hair in a haphazard manner using her fingers, completely oblivious to Raven's insult due to the fact the very thing she loved most in the world was mentioned. Gone was the petulant expression and in place of it was a childlike eagerness.

"Let's go!" Aisha exclaimed enthusiastically and dashed out of the infirmary. Raven chortled lowly shaking his head and chased after her. Hesitating for a brief second, Elsword tensed up before deciding to pursue the purplenette as well.

* * *

"Infi, can you manage table three for me while I take a quick break?" A cheerful, maid outfit-clad woman with chocolate brown hair and straight bangs enquired. Infi, a young male with messy red hair tainted with a shot of black and vivid (if harsh) eyes that were a deep blood red. He was donning a rather dapper black suit and he was carrying a tray laden with delicate porcelain tea cups and cute little sandwiches that were free of the crust. Infi nodded and flashed the woman a small smile. "Of course, it would be no problem Weiss." He said cordially. Weiss nodded and flashed a relieved smile. "Thank you! You're a life-saver! I can finally take a piss!" She laughed and hurried off to the bathroom.

Infi sighed and rolled his eyes, before hurrying off to cater to the airheaded upper-class women that were gathered at the cheerful little Café Fleur de Rosa located in the posh location of inner Velder. Honestly, he hated this damn job. He hated those airheaded twits. He hated the cute little sandwiches that didn't have their crusts. He hated the adorable little cakes that were laden with delicately spun sugar flowers. The only reason he put up with this stupid job was so that he could pay rent for his apartment and pretend to be a normal citizen living a mundane life in Velder. Good thing it was only a temporary arrangement.

After exchanging the obligatory words of phony politeness between him and the snobby rich twits (who clearly, despite their sickly sweet smiles disapproved thoroughly of him), Infi eagerly made his way to the alley that was located right behind the shop. Heaving a relieved sigh, he slumped down on the ground, relying on the cool slightly moist brick wall to support him, and brushed his messy bangs away from his left eye, only to have them drift back into his line of vision.

"You're fighting a losing battle kid…" A deep voice drawled lazily. Startled, Infi stiffened before slowly craning his neck to the left look at the person, or in this case thing that had addressed him. "Angkor! Don't do that! You scared the shit out of me!" He snapped vehemently and made a swift motion to punch the rotund little bat. Angkor was quicker however and in a puff of violet smoke, he re-appeared to the right of Infi. "You damn bat, I told you to not come to my job! People will get the wrong idea if they see me with you!" he hissed vehemently and narrowed his eyes into little slits. Angkor did not respond but instead summoned a little parchment of paper in a puff of violet smoke. Seeing Infi's questioning gaze, the bat gave him a solemn look and answered cryptically. "It is a message from Alpha. Take care." With that final sentence, he disappeared in a plume of purple mist. "Hey wait!" Infi yelped but it was too late. Glowering petulantly, he picked the paper off of the alley street and unfolded it.

_Kvr  
Lro bkbjfbp xob cfkxiiv zxqzefkd lk. F'j zroobkqiv rkxyib ql molsfab xkvjlob xfa clo vlr ybpfabp texq Xkdhlo zxk al. Qeb abjlkp exsb xipl glfkba qeb erkq clo qeb Kfkb Jrpbp. Tb xob klq pxcb xkvjlob, Xiqbox fp bumxkafkd qebfo aljxfk xka lkzb qexq yoxq Bsb jxoofbp Oxsbk, Sbiabo tfii kl ilkdbo yb lkiv exsb pl jrze qfjb ibcq ql zljmibqb vlro jfppflk. Objbjybo ql cfka Ybqx, hfii ebo clo ebo Plkd xka exsb Xkdhlo abifsbo fq ql jb. Fq pelria dfsb jb bklrde pqobkdqe ql cfkxiiv hfii Fdklqrj xka abpqolv Xiqbox lkzb xka clo xii. Fc vlr pbb jr, hfii efj. Eb fp x qeobxq ql lro mixkp. F xj exsfkd Xkdhlo tofqb qefp altk fk zlab tefib F'j pqrzh ebob rkxyib ql xzq. Pefcq bsbovqefkd 23 xkv lc qeb lqebo jrpbp zljb xzolpp vlro mxqe, hfii qebj. Tb zxkklq exsb Fdklqrj dbq xkv lc efp exkap lk qebj lo bipb efp clri mixk tfii yb przzbppcri. Txqze lrq clo Molql, peb fp txqzefkd vlr.  
Pfkzbobiv,  
Ximex._

_Really? _Infi though exasperatedly and shoved the message into his pocket. Inside the café he could hear angry shouts, no doubt wondering as to where he was. His whiny customers probably thought the tea was too hot or too cold or something retarded like that. He really wanted to get fired, but he needed to keep this job if he wanted a place to stay during his mission. He'd work on decoding the letter later.

* * *

**And that concludes chapter eight of EA! STUFF IS STARTING TO HAPPEN YAAAAAY! Ok, so no one got the question right but first person to successfully decode the message will receive a one-shot of their choice. I will warn of major spoilers if you do attempt to decode, so decode at your own risk. Hint: Caesarian Shift, look at the number, forward go. Aisha is such a tsundere X3 But once again, I'm very, very, VERY sorry for such a long wait, especially for a somewhat "meh" chapter in terms of details and action. Here are the replies to my lovely reviewers! :D**

* * *

**Rosamanelle- Woah! No one is getting married yet! Oh, Aisha didn't just jump into the fire… SHE DUMPED INTO THE MOFO SUN! AHAHAHAHA! You'll discover how hot it's getting in the message XDD Elesis is a nice person, don't worry. And Rosa… don't hold your breath… things are going to get… grim.**

**Orithia Windbell- There's more to them than what meets the eye. ;3 Here's another chapter :D**

**Tsurara Oikawa-chan- But I love trolling my readers! OwO I'm still waiting very impatiently with an exe in hand *Shot* Seriously, I'm looking forward to an update. Don't worry about being cocky, your story is so interesting! :DDD**

**Spirify- Poor Chung is going to have to wait before he re-appears. Expect next chapter for things to start to go cray cray O3O My writing godlike? Naaah… not there yet… but I'm flattered.**

**3- *Revives* Don't die yet! OAO**

**Vayne358- Nice to see you buddy! :D I'm glad you liked my story so far :D As for Eve… there's more depth to her than what you might expect. :D**


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